No abstract

No abstract

Background:Tuberculosis is one of the most important infectious diseases that has claimed its victims throughout much of known human history. With Koch's discovery of the tubercle bacillus as the etiologic agent of the disease, his sanitary and hygienic measures, which were based on his discovery and the development of a vaccine against tuberculosis by Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin in 1921, an attenuated Mycobacterium bovis strain, bacilli Calmette-Guérin (BCG), and the discovery of the first antibiotic against tuberculosis, streptomycin by Selman Waksman in 1943, soon led to the opinion that appropriate control measures had become available for tuberculosis and it had been assumed that the disease could ultimately be eradicated.The emergence of resistant strains of this bacteria and widespread distribution of the disease in the world, and the emergence of the AIDS epidemic destroyed any possibility of global control of tuberculosis in the foreseeable future.Objectives:The purpose of this review is to highlight the current scientific literature on mycobacterial infections and provide an overview on the laboratory diagnosis of tuberculosis and non-tuberculosis infections based on conventional phenotypic and modern molecular assays.Method:In this study, a number of 65 papers comprising 20 reviews, 9 case reports, and 36 original research in association with mycobacteriosis and the laboratory diagnosis of mycobacterial infections, were reviewed.Results:Based on our analysis on the published documents methods applied for the laboratory diagnosis of tuberculosis are continually assessed and developed in order to achieve more rapid, less expensive, and accurate results. Acid-fast staining and culture for mycobacteria remain at the core of any diagnostic algorithm with the sensitivity of 20-70% and specificity of 95-98% for AFB microscopy and the sensitivity of 95% and the specificity of 98% for culture based diagnosis. Following growth in culture, molecular tests such as nucleic acid hybridization probes and DNA sequencing may be used for definitive species identification. Nucleic acid amplification methods provide the means for direct detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in respiratory specimens without the prerequisite to isolate or culture the organism, leading to more rapid diagnosis and better patient care.Conclusion:As the researchers in a developing country, we strongly believe that despite significant advances in laboratory capacity, in many countries reliable confirmation of suspected mycobacterial diseases is hindered by a lack of knowledge on proper standardized methods, sufficient funds, suitably trained staff and laboratory supplies.

Anthropogenic origin pollutants including pesticides, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals and industry chemicals impose many risks to human health and environment and bioremediation has been considered the strategy of choice to reduce the risk of hazardous chemicals. In the current study, we aimed to screen and characterize mycobacteria from the diverse range of Iranian aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems with harsh and unfavorable environmental conditions that can be utilized for biodegradation of target pollutants. Mycobacteria were isolated from a collection of 90 environmental samples and identified to the species level using conventional microbiological and molecular methods including the PCR amplification of hsp65 and sequence analysis of, 16S rRNA genetic markers. The growth rate of the isolates in presence of pollutants, chromatography, Gibbs and turbidometric methods were used to assess their biodegradation activity. A total of 39 mycobacterial isolates (43.3%) were recovered from 90 samples that belonged to 21 various species consisting of M. fortuitum; 6 isolates, M. flavescens and M. paragordonae; 4 isolates each, M. monacense, M. fredriksbergense and M. aurum; 2 isolates each, 7 single isolates of M. conceptionense, M. porcinum, M. simiae, M. celeriflavum, M. novocastrense, M. neoaurum, M. obuense and 12 isolates that belonged to 8 unknown potentially novel mycobacterial species. The isolates were categorized in three groups based on their bioremediation activity, i.e., 5 (12.8%) organisms without biodegradation activity, 20 (51.2%) organisms with previously reported biodegradation activity, and 14 (35.9%) organisms that showed biodegradation activity but not previously reported. Our results showed that the Iranian ecosystems harbor a good reservoir of diverse mycobacterial species with biodegrading potentiality for neutralizing environmental chemical pollutants.

Anthropogenic pollutants are known to have adverse effect on ecosystem, biodiversity and human health. Bioremediation is an option that has been widely used to remediate organic contaminants and reduce the risk of these hazardous materials. Microorganisms are readily available to screen and can be rapidly characterized to be applied in many extreme environmental conditions. Actinomycetes have a great potential for the production of bioactive secondary metabolites which have biodegradation activity. This study aimed to screen and characterize Nocardia species with biodegradation potential from diverse Iranian ecosystems. The isolates were screened from 90 collected environmental samples, identified and characterized using conventional and molecular microbiological methods including the PCR amplification and sequencing analysis of 16S rRNA and rpoB genetic markers. Growth rate in presence of pollutants, chromatography, Gibbs and turbidometric methods were used to determine bioremediation ability. A total of 19 Nocardia isolates were recovered from the cultured samples (21.1%) that belonged to 10 various species. The most prevalent Nocardia species was N. farcinica; 4 isolates (21%), followed by N. cyriacigeorgica and N. cashijiensis like; 3 isolates each (15.7%) and N. asteroides and N. kroppenstedtii; 2 isolates each (10.5%). Our results showed that various Nocardia species have great potential for bioremediation purposes, although they have not received much attention of the scholars for such significant usage.

Our study showed that the hospital environment is a potential reservoir of a diverse range of Nocardia species, due to the remarkable survival capability of these bacteria in an adverse hospital environment, which carries a threat to the health of patients.

No abstract

Background: Actinomycetes widely exist in nature and these species cause infections in immunocompromised and healthy patients, although they are frequently found as members of the normal microbiota of humans and animals. These subsequent infections are often misdiagnosed as malignancy and tuberculosis. Due to this issue, the present study aimed to determine the presence and diversity of actinomycetes species causing infections in Iranian patients. Materials and Methods: A total of 79 clinical samples collected from five hospitals in Markazi province were analyzed for the existence of actinomycetes using standard protocols for isolation and characterization of the isolates. The conventional tests were used for preliminary identification, the PCR amplification of hsp65 gene, the specific region of the 16S rRNA, and sequence analyses of 16S rRNA were applied for the genus and species identification. MICs of the antimicrobial agent were determined by the broth microdilution method and interpreted according to the NCCLS guidelines. Results: A total of 17 (21.51%) actinomycetes isolates were recovered from clinical samples. In other analyzed samples, eight (10.12%) gram-positive, 12 (15.18) gramnegative bacteria, and six (7.6) fungi isolates were recovered. The most prevalent actinomycetes species were M. fortuitum (17.64%), N. Mexicana and S. heliomycini (11.76% each), and 10 species, ie, N. farcinica, M. lehmannii, M. flavescens, Arthrobacter crystalopoetis, N. neocaledoniensis, M. phocaicum, M. abscessus, M. arupense, M. setense, and N. cyriacigeorgica made up the single isolates. Results of DST illustrated that all of the isolates were susceptible to Amikacin, Levofloxacin, Ofloxacin, and Ciprofloxacin, whereas all of them were resistant to Rifampicin and Doxycycline. Conclusion: In conclusion, increasing isolation of actinomycetes found in various clinical cases merits special attention by health authorities in developing countries. In health centers, action should be taken to increase awareness of appropriate diagnostic criteria and management guidelines for actinomycetes diseases. Furthermore, an increase in the number as well as the quality of national and regional reference laboratories may facilitate more accurate diagnosis of actinomycetes diseases.