Recovery rate of NTM from AFB smear-positive sputum specimens at a medical centre in South Korea.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the recovery rate of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) from acid-fast bacilli (AFB) smear-positive sputum specimens at a tertiary care medical centre in South Korea with a high pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) burden.


METHODS
Retrospective analysis of data from AFB smear- and culture-positive sputum specimens collected between January 1998 and December 2001.


RESULTS
Over 4 years, 1328 sputum specimens collected from 616 patients were AFB smear- and culture-positive. NTM were recovered from 9.1% (121/1328) of the smear-positive sputum specimens, and from 8.1% (50/616) of patients with smear-positive sputum. NTM were isolated at least twice in 94% (47/50) of the patients from whom NTM was recovered. The most common organism found was Mycobacterium avium complex, followed by M. abscessus.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that a substantial proportion of patients at a tertiary care medical centre in South Korea with AFB smear-positive sputum specimens may have NTM lung disease rather than PTB.
Jeon
K
K
Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Samsung Medical Centre, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Koh
W J
WJ
Kwon
O J
OJ
Suh
G Y
GY
Chung
M P
MP
Kim
H
H
Lee
N Y
NY
Park
Y K
YK
Bai
G H
GH
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009164:Mycobacterium Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology*; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis*