title: Agreement and disagreement between laboratories in species identification of mycobacteria.
abstract: Twenty coded strains of the following species: Mycobacterium avium, M. fortuitum, M. gordonae, M. chelonei, M. intracellulare, M. kansasii, M. nonchromogenicum, M. scrofulaceum, M. terrae, M. triviale and M. xenopi, were subjected to identification in a co-operative study undertaken by seven laboratories of four countries (CSSR, GDR, PRP and USSR). Three of these laboratories recognized 18-19 (90-95%) of the strains, three others 15-17 (75-85%) and one laboratory recognized 8 (40%) strains. In the correctly identified species, agreement between the tests used by all participants was evaluated. The highest rates of agreement in positive or negative results (04-100%) were obtained for nitrate reduction, detection of arylsulphatase, urease and nicotinamidase in M. kansasii, M. avium-intracellulare and M. fortuitum.
mesh_terms: D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D009161:Mycobacterium / Q000145:classification* / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D009162:Mycobacterium avium / Q000145:classification*; D009170:Nontuberculous Mycobacteria / Q000145:classification*