Mycobacterium haemophilum sp. nov., a New Pathogen of Humans

Abstract

A patient under immunosuppressive treatment of Hodgkin's disease developed generalized skin granulomata and subcutaneous abscesses. Several aspirated pus samples yielded acid-fast rods with the following properties: temperature optimum, about 30°C with no growth at 37°C; slow growth (2 to 4 weeks); nonchromogenic; hemoglobin or hemin requirement for growth; catalase negative; pyrazinamidase and nicotinamidase positive; and urease negative. The guanine-pluscytosine content of the deoxyribonucleic acid was calculated from the melting temperature to be 66.0 mol%. It is concluded that these isolates belong to a new species, for which the name Mycobacterium haemophilum is proposed. The type strain of this species is strain 1 (= ATCC 29548). The new species is related to M. marinum and M. ulcerans. In this communication, a new acid-fast organism from skin granulomata is described. It has temperature l i m i t s for growth similar to those of M. ulcerans and M. marinum, but its nutritional requirements, growth characteristics, and biochemical activities differ from those described for any other known pathogenic mycobacterium.?Submitted as a tribute to the memory of Werner B. Schaefer, from the Division

The Pathogenic Effects of Mycobacterium Haemophilum in Immunosuppressed Albino Mice

“…These cause infections that are restricted mainly to the cooler surface areas of the body of affected humans or animals (MacCallum et al, 1948;Shepard, 1965;Shepard and Habas, 1967). In keeping with this, as noted by Sompolinsky et al (1978), the optimum temperature for growth of M . marinum, M .…”

Mycobacterium marinuminfections in man

“…This species, described by Sompolinsky et al (1978Sompolinsky et al ( , 1979 is so named because it requires iron supplements, usually ferric ammonium citrate or haemin, for growth. Its colonies are off-white or pale yellow and, like M. marinum, it is psychrophilic.…”

“…It is metabolically rather inert. To date, all infections have occurred in immunosuppressed individuals, notably renal transplant recipients (Sompolinsky et al 1978;Mezo et al 1979;Dawson & Jennis, 1980;Davis et al 1982;Branger et al 1983;Moulsdale et al 1983). In one report the infection was initially thought to be due to M. marinum as the patient's daughter had kept goldfish that had died during the preceding year (Moulsdale et al 1983).…”

Numerical Classification of 280 Strains of Slowly Growing Mycobacteria

“…After the previous study of Tsukamura (39), two new species were added to the names of slowly growing mycobacteria, M. malmoense Schroder and Juhlin 1977 (27) and M. haemophilum Sompolinsky et al 1978 (31). In the previous study, M. ulcerans MacCallum et al 1948 (15) was not included.…”