Epidemiology of infection by nontuberculous mycobacteria

Prospective study on nontuberculous mycobacteria in patients with and without cystic fibrosis

“…Basic characteristics (frequency) of NTM recovery of our CF patients (11.0% single, 5.5% repeated) were comparable to previous reports on CF patients (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19).5% single, 1-8% repeated) [1,8,10,13,20,21,22,28,31]. Also NTM species isolated from CF patients resembled previous reports [1,10,13,20,21,22,23,31].…”

“…Fauroux et al [8] also reported no association between single NTM recovery and decline in clinical or functional status of CF patients. Most likely single recovery of NTM in respiratory specimens occurs through contamination rather than colonization or infection of the patient [2,7,11], which appears to apply also for CF patients. In future studies CF patients with single recovery of NTM should be excluded, unless they fulfill ATS bacteriological criteria (e.g., recovery from tissue biopsy).…”

“…Recently, a number of reports described recovery of mycobacteria-especially nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM)-in CF patients [1,8,10,13,20,21,22,23,28,31]. NTM are a heterogeneous group of microorganisms widely distributed in the environment [2,7] with varying pathogenetic potential [15]. Since the advent of the AIDS epidemic there have been numerous reports [7,11,16] on NTM in HIV-positive patients, in which NTM infections are now a well established entity.…”

“…NTM are a heterogeneous group of microorganisms widely distributed in the environment [2,7] with varying pathogenetic potential [15]. Since the advent of the AIDS epidemic there have been numerous reports [7,11,16] on NTM in HIV-positive patients, in which NTM infections are now a well established entity. In elderly patients without predisposing factors a new clinical presentation of Mycobacterium avium complex pulmonary disease was reported [24].…”

Prospects for development of new antimycobacterial drugs

“…11 Thus, the most common clinical manifestation in MAC-infected patients with AIDS is mycobacteremia, and in these patients pulmonary MAC disease is rare. Clinical management of MAC infections, especially those in AIDS patients, is very difficult, since many drugs are largely ineffective for such infections, for the following reasons: [9][10][11][12][13][14] (1) MAC infections are frequently encountered in immunocompromised hosts, including HIV patients. 9,11 (2) MAC has intrinsic resistance to the majority of common antituberculous drugs because of its impermeability to these agents.…”