Journal of clinical microbiology
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J. Clin. Microbiol. · Feb 2000
Species identification of Mycobacterium avium complex isolates by a variety of molecular techniques.
Organisms in the Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC; M. avium, M. intracellulare, and "nonspecific or X" MAC) are emerging pathogens among individual organisms of which significant genetic variability is displayed. The objective of the present study was to evaluate various molecular methods for the rapid and definitive identification of MAC species. Isolates were obtained from both human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients and HIV-negative patients with and without known predisposing conditions. ⋯ Eighty-five percent of the isolates from HIV-positive patients were M. avium and 86% of the isolates from HIV-negative patients were M. intracellulare. Fifteen of the M. avium isolates did not contain IS1245 and 7% of the M. intracellulare isolates were found to carry IS1245. All of the M. avium strains were mig positive, and all of the M. intracellulare strains were mig negative.