Identification of nontuberculous mycobacteria by high-performance liquid chromatography from patients in tehran

Abstract

Background/Objectives: The genus Mycobacterium contains over 140 species comprises pathogenic and nonpathogenic strains. Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) causing clinical disease have become increasingly common and more diverse. Widespread features of NTM infection can make the diagnosis difficult. Precise species-level detection can aid in distinguishing environmental contamination from actual infection and, furthermore, can assist in making a choice of antimicrobial therapy. Materials and methods: Mycolic acids extracted from saponified mycobacterial cells were examined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in addition to phenotypic tests for the identification of 20 clinical isolates of mycobacteria at Masoud Laboratory during 2014–2015. Results: Mycobacterium abscessus (8 isolates), Mycobacterium tuberculosis (6 isolates), Mycobacterium intracellulare (3 isolates) and Mycobacterium fortuitum (3 isolates) were identified in these isolates. The phenotypic tests also confirmed the identity of the clinical isolates. Conclusion: Our results showed that HPLC is a more reliable, rapid, simple, easy-to-perform, cost-effective, and specific identification method compared with other identification procedures like phenotypic tests.

Keywords

• High-performance liquid chromatography
• Identification
• Mycobacteria
• Mycolic acid