Nontuberculous mycobacteria Totally Explained

Everything about Nontuberculous Mycobacteria totally explained

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), also known as environmental mycobacteria, atypical mycobacteria and mycobacteria other than tuberculosis (MOTT), are mycobacteria which don't cause tuberculosis or Hansen's disease (also known as leprosy).

Introduction

Mycobacteria are a family of small, rod-shaped bacilli that can be classified into 3 main groups for the purpose of diagnosis and treatment:

Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex which can cause tuberculosis: M. tuberculosis, M. bovis, M. africanum,, M. microti and M. canetti.
M. leprae which causes Hansen's disease or leprosy.
Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are all the other mycobacteria which can cause pulmonary disease resembling tuberculosis, lymphadenitis, skin disease, or disseminated disease.

Taxonomy

In 1959, botanist Ernest Runyon put these human disease-associated bacteria into four groups:

Photochromogens, which develop pigments in or after being exposed to light. Examples include M. kansasii, M. simiae and M. marinum.

Rapid growers include four well recognized pathogenic rapidly growing non-chromogenic species: M. chelonae, M. abscessus, M. fortuitum and M. peregrinum. Other examples cause disease rarely, such as M. smegmatis and M. flavescens.

Epidemiology

NTM are widely distributed in the environment, particularly in wet soil, marshland, streams, rivers and estuaries. Different species of NTM prefer different types of environment. Human disease is believed to be acquired from environmental exposures, and unlike tuberculosis and leprosy, there has been no evidence of animal-to-human or human-to-human transmission of NTM, hence the alternative label "environmental bacteria".
   NTM diseases have been seen in most industrialized countries, where incidence rates vary from 1.0 to 1.8 cases per 100,000 persons. Recent studies, including one done in Ontario, Canada, suggest that incidence is much higher. Pulmonary NTM is estimated by some experts in the field to be at least ten times more common than TB in the U.S., with at least 150,000 cases per year.
   Most NTM disease cases involve the species MAC, M. abscessus, M. fortuitum and M. kansasii. M. abscessus is being seen with increasing frequency and is particularly difficult to treat. Lymphadenitis can be caused by various species that's different from one place to another; but again, MAC is the main cause worldwide. Most patient are aged less than 5 years, but the incidence is rare for children having BCG vaccine. The disease has a high curability.
   Soft tissue disease due to NTM infection include post-traumatic abscesses (caused by rapid growers), swimming pool granuloma (caused by M. marinum) and Buruli ulcer (caused by M. ulcerans or M. shinshuense). Post-traumatic abscesses most commonly occur after injection.
   Pulmonary NTM disease diagnosis requires both identification of the mycobacterium in the patient's lung(s) as well as a high resolution CT scan of the lungs.

Research

Virginia Tech is conducting a home water supply and patient sputum comparison study to determine source of infection in pulmonary NTM cases. This study was funded by NTM Info & Research and results will be available by mid-2009.
   An epidemiology study on pulmonary NTM is currently being conducted by National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Disease and Kaiser Permanente in southern California. Results will be available by mid-2009. This study was funded by NTM Info & Research.
   French researchers finalized the genome sequence of M. abscessus in March 2008. The genome is available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=genome&cmd=search&term=abscessus.
   McGill University in Montreal, Canada is conducting a study to determine the genome sequence (type strain) of M. avium intracellulare. This study is partially funded by NTM Info & Research and results will be available by late 2009.

Further Information

Get more info on 'Nontuberculous Mycobacteria'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://nontuberculous_mycobacteria.totallyexplained.com">Nontuberculous mycobacteria Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.