title: Identification of nontuberculous mycobacteria by high-performance liquid chromatography from patients in tehran.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The genus Mycobacterium contains over 140 species comprises pathogenic and nonpathogenic strains. Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) causing clinical disease have become increasingly common and more diverse. Widespread features of NTM infection can make the diagnosis difficult. Precise species-level detection can aid in distinguishing environmental contamination from actual infection and, furthermore, can assist in making a choice of antimicrobial therapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Mycolic acids extracted from saponified mycobacterial cells were examined by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in addition to phenotypic tests for the identification of 20 clinical isolates of mycobacteria at Masoud Laboratory during 2014-2015.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mycobacterium abscessus (8 isolates), Mycobacterium tuberculosis (6 isolates), Mycobacterium intracellulare (3 isolates) and Mycobacterium fortuitum (3 isolates) were identified in these isolates. The phenotypic tests also confirmed the identity of the clinical isolates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results showed that HPLC is a more reliable, rapid, simple, easy-to-perform, cost-effective, and specific identification method compared with other identification procedures like phenotypic tests.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mirzapour
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran. Electronic address: nazarialam.ali@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Ali Nazari
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Alam
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Islamic Azad University, Parand Branch, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Saeed Z
authors.initials: SZ
authors.lastname: Bostanabadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Pasteur Institute, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Abdolrazagh H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Shahraki
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Iran University for Medical Science, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Soltan A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Ebrahimi
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran.
authors.forename: Masoud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yousefi
keywords: High-performance liquid chromatography; Identification; Mycobacteria; Mycolic acid