title: Prevalence of Non-Tuberculous Mycobacteria in Hospital Waters of Major Cities of Khuzestan Province, Iran.
abstract: Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are among the emerging pathogens in immunocompromised individuals including hospitalized patients. So, it is important to consider hospitals water supplies as a source for infection. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of NTM in the hospital aquatic systems of Khuzestan, South west of Iran. In total, 258 hospital water samples were collected and examined. After initial sample processing, sediment of each sample were inoculated into two Lowenstein-Jensen medium. The positive cultures were studied with phenotypic tests including growth rate, colony morphology, and pigmentation, with subsequent PCR- restriction enzyme analysis (PRA) and rpoB gene sequence analysis. Mycobacterial strains were isolated from 77 samples (29.8%), comprising 52 (70.1%) rapid growing, and 25 (32.4%) slow growing mycobacteria. Based on the overall results, M. fortuitum (44.1%) was the most common mycobacterial species in hospital water samples, followed by M. gordonae (n = 13, 16.8%) and M. senegalense (n = 5, 7.7%). In conclusion, current study demonstrated the NTM strains as one of the major parts of hospital water supplies with probable potential source for nosocomial infections. This finding also help to shed light on to the dynamics of the distribution and diversity of NTM in the water system of hospitals in the region of study.
authors.affiliation: Health Research Institute, Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical SciencesAhvaz, Iran; Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical SciencesAhvaz, Iran.
authors.forename: Azar Dokht
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Khosravi
authors.affiliation: Health Research Institute, Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical SciencesAhvaz, Iran; Department of Epidemiology, Pasteur Institute of IranTehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Abdolrazagh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hashemi Shahraki
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical SciencesAhvaz, Iran; Student Research Committee, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical SciencesAhvaz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hashemzadeh
authors.affiliation: Health Research Institute, Infectious and Tropical Diseases Research Center, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences Ahvaz, Iran.
authors.forename: Rasa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sheini Mehrabzadeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, School of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Science Ahvaz, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Teimoori
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000382:microbiology*; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000235:genetics; D006761:Hospitals; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009165:Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D009170:Nontuberculous Mycobacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014871:Water Microbiology
chemical_list: D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases
keywords: non-tuberculous mycobacteria; polymerase chain reaction; restriction enzyme analysis; water samples