Pleuropulmonary infections caused by Mycobacterium bovis: a re-emerging disease.

Between 1980 and 2003, 13 patients (0.95% of all cases of tuberculosis) at a 600-bed university hospital in Madrid, Spain, were diagnosed with Mycobacterium bovis infection. All 13 cases occurred between 1994 and 1999; the mean age of the patients was 50 years (range 23-83 years), and 77% were males. Four (30%) patients were also positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The most frequent localisation of the disease was the lung (ten patients; 77%). Seven patients, including four HIV-positive patients who died, had multidrug-resistant M. bovis infection. No other patient died, including two HIV-negative patients with multidrug-resistant disease.

SDS-PAGE for identification of species belonging to the Mycobacterium fortuitum complex.

We performed a study to determine the usefulness of SDS-PAGE of whole cell proteins for the characterization of species of rapidly growing mycobacteria belonging to the Mycobacterium fortuitum complex. Strains included 37 M. fortuitum, 32 M. chelonae, 10 M. peregrinum, 5 M. abscessus, and 3 M. mucogenicum. Eight collection strains (including type strains of the five species) were also included in the study. All strains yielded between 44 and 58 bands in the electrophoretograms. Intraspecies similarity showed Dice coefficients higher than 95%, with only one strain of M. fortuitum having a six-band difference (Dice coefficient 87.75%). However, interspecies similarity was always below 75%, the similarity being higher between M. fortuitum and M. peregrinum (75.51%) and between M. chelonae and M. abscessus (54.9%). Visual examination of the electrophoretograms was sufficient for species characterization. SDS-PAGE of whole cell proteins is a useful technique for identification of isolates of the M. fortuitum complex, and is easy to perform without the need for complex or expensive equipment.