You are here:
Shared Mycobacterium avium genotypes observed among unlinked clinical and environmental isolates
Citation:
Dirac, M., K. M. Weigel, M. A. Yakrus, A. L. Becker, H. Chen, G. Fridley, A. Sikora, C. Speake, E. D. HILBORN, S. L. PFALLER, AND G. A. CANGELOSI. Shared Mycobacterium avium genotypes observed among unlinked clinical and environmental isolates. APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC, 79(18):5601-5607, (2013).
Impact/Purpose:
1) Develop a real-time PCR method for the rapid detection and quantification of Mycobacterium avium and M. intracellulare in drinking water. 2) Develop a integrated method to collect, concentrate, purify (if needed), extract nucleic acid and real-time PCR for the quantification of Mycobacterium avium and M. intracellulare in drinking water. 3) Determine the subspecies of M. avium complex bacteria in EPA culture collection.
Description:
Our understanding of the sources of Mycobacterium avium infection is partially based on genotypic matching of pathogen isolates from cases and environmental sources. These approaches assume that genotypic identity is rare in isolates from unlinked cases or sources. To test this, a novel, PCR-based genotyping method, LSP-MVR, was used to analyze clinical and environmental isolates of M. avium from diverse sources. Among 127 clinical isolates from seven locations in North America, South America, and Europe, 42 genotypes were observed. Twelve of these genotypes were seen in isolates from apparently unlinked patients in two or more geographic locations. Six of the twelve were also observed in environmental isolates. Subsets of these isolates were further analyzed by PFGE and rep-PCR. LSP-MVR is highly portable, so these observations can be expanded to additional geographical sites. Expansion of the global genotypic database of M. avium will help clarify the epidemiology of this emerging pathogen.
