Laboratory diagnosis of the nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) involves the detection,
processing, and isolation of the NTM from clinical specimens. Recent laboratory developments
have emphasized greater speed and accuracy of diagnosis, in part because of similar
emphasis for the diagnosis of tuberculosis. This section discusses the methods of
laboratory diagnosis of NTM using conventional biochemical and nutritional requirements,
acid fast smear microscopy, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), antibiotic
susceptibility testing, and newer genetic methods such as molecular probes, polymerase
chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis (PRA) and 16S rDNA
sequence analysis. Diagnosing NTM disease clinically is frequently more complicated
than isolating and identifying an organism in the laboratory. The diagnosis of NTM
disease, more so than many infectious diseases, is dependent on interpreting the laboratory
findings in a larger clinical context. There are currently at least 100 identified
NTM species [
[1]
]. Clinicians are increasingly confronted by cultures yielding a variety of NTM species
with variable potential for causing human disease and uncertain clinical significance.
This article discusses how laboratory results are applied by clinicians, as well as
some of the difficulties and controversies regarding the diagnosis of NTM disease
after the laboratory work is completed.To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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© 2002 Elsevier Science (USA). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
