title: Recovery of mycobacteria from patients with cystic fibrosis.
abstract: Despite decontamination, overgrowth by pseudomonads renders cultural isolation of mycobacteria from respiratory specimens of patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) difficult or impossible. We performed a prospective study by comparing levels of reduction of overgrowth and recovery of mycobacteria using either pretreatment with N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NALC)-NaOH alone or pretreatment with NALC-NaOH and then with oxalic acid. From 406 specimens of 148 CF patients, 11 specimens were positive for mycobacteria, 5 of which grew mycobacteria after decontamination by either procedure. Three specimens grew mycobacteria only after decontamination with NALC-NaOH, whereas three specimens grew mycobacteria only after treatment with NALC-NaOH followed by oxalic acid but were overgrown after decontamination with NALC-NaOH. Thus, inactivation of mycobacteria by the more aggressive oxalic acid treatment offsets its beneficial effect of reducing the proportion of cultures overgrown with microorganisms other than mycobacteria.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Microbiology, Medical School Hannover, 30625 Hannover, Germany. bange@mikrobio.mh-hannover.de
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Bange
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kirschner
authors.forename: E C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Böttger
mesh_terms: D000111:Acetylcysteine; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D003550:Cystic Fibrosis / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009161:Mycobacterium / Q000254:growth & development / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D019815:Oxalic Acid; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011550:Pseudomonas aeruginosa / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012137:Respiratory System / Q000382:microbiology; D012972:Sodium Hydroxide
chemical_list: D012972:Sodium Hydroxide; D019815:Oxalic Acid; D000111:Acetylcysteine