title: Prevalence of non-tuberculous mycobacteria in a hospital environment.
abstract: In recent years, non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) have emerged as an important cause of opportunistic nosocomial infections but there is little known about the isolation and identification of NTM in Korea. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of NTM in the hospital environment and identify the species. A total of 150 samples were collected from different parts of the hospital. NTM were isolated and identified by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of the gene encoding rpoB and partial sequencing analysis of hsp65 and rpoB. In this study, 60 strains of NTM were isolated from 50 of the 150 samples. Half of the tap water samples (50 of 100) were positive for mycobacteria. An estimated 73.3% of the isolates were saprophytic, 21.7% were potentially pathogenic and 5% were unidentified. The presence of NTM in hospital tap water is not uncommon. Such water isolates might cause true nosocomial infection in immunocompromised patients, in addition to the risk of false-positive culture results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, College of Medicine, Inje University, Inje University Busan Paik Hospital, Busan, Korea. jhsmile@inje.ac.kr
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Ryu
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Y J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: J N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D018834:Chaperonin 60; D018833:Chaperonins / Q000235:genetics; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D009161:Mycobacterium / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D009164:Mycobacterium Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D014871:Water Microbiology; D014881:Water Supply; D020743:rhoB GTP-Binding Protein / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D018834:Chaperonin 60; C074119:heat-shock protein 65, Mycobacterium; D018833:Chaperonins; D020743:rhoB GTP-Binding Protein