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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, November 2001, p. 4103-4110, Vol. 39, No. 11
Tuberculosis/Mycobacteriology Branch,
Division of AIDS, STD, and TB Laboratory Research, National Center
for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
Atlanta, Georgia 30333
Received 29 May 2001/Returned for modification 16 July
2001/Accepted 3 September 2001
Mycobacterium abscessus and Mycobacterium
chelonae are two closely related species that are often not
distinguished by clinical laboratories despite the fact they cause
diseases requiring different treatment regimens. Multilocus enzyme
electrophoresis, PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis
of the 65-kDa heat shock protein gene, biochemical tests, and
high-performance liquid chromatography of mycolic acids were used to
identify 75 isolates as either M. abscessus or M. chelonae that were originally submitted for drug susceptibility
testing. Only 36 of these isolates were submitted with an
identification at the species level. Using the above methods, 46 of the
isolates were found to be M. abscessus and 29 were
identified as M. chelonae. Eight isolates originally
submitted as M. chelonae were identified as M. abscessus, and one isolate submitted as M. abscessus
was found to be M. chelonae. The four identification methods were in agreement in identifying 74 of the 75 isolates. In drug
susceptibility testing, all isolates of M. abscessus
exhibited resistance to tobramycin (MIC of 8 to
0095-1137/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JCM.39.11.4103-4110.2001
Comparison of Methods for Identification of
Mycobacterium abscessus and M. chelonae Isolates
16 µg/ml), while
all isolates of M. chelonae were susceptible to this drug
(MIC of
4 µg/ml). The results suggest that once an identification
method is selected, clinical laboratories should be able to easily
identify isolates of M. abscessus and M. chelonae.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, Mailstop FO8, 1600 Clifton Rd.,
Atlanta, GA 30333. Phone: (404) 639-1288. Fax: (404) 639-1287. E-mail: may2{at}cdc.gov.
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