Analysis of Mycobacterium avium complex serovars isolated from AIDS patients from Southeast Brazil

The purpose of this study was to assess the distribution of Mycobacterium avium serovars isolated from AIDS patients in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Ninety single site or multiple site isolates from 75 patients were examined. The most frequent serovars found were 8 (39.2 per cent), 4 (21.4 per cent) and 1 (10.7 per cent). The frequency of mixed infections with serovar 8 or 4 was 37.8 per cent. Among the 90 strains examined, M. intracellulare serovars (7 strains) and M. scrofulaceum (4 strains) were found in 11 isolates (12 per cent) indicating that M. avium (88 per cent) was the major opportunistic species in the M. avium complex isolates in Brazilian AIDS patients.