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Diagnosis of nontuberculous mycobacterial infections
Barbara A Brown-Elliott1, David E Griffith, Richard J Wallace
1Department of Microbiology, University of Texas Health Center, 11937 US Hwy 271, Tyler, TX 75708, USA.
Abstract:
This section discusses the methods of laboratory diagnosis of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) using conventional biochemical and nutritional requirements, acid-fast smear microscopy, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), antibiotic susceptibility testing, and newer genetic methods such as molecular probes, polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis (PRA), and 16S rDNA sequence analysis. This article discusses how laboratory results are applied by clinicians, and some of the difficulties and controversies regarding the diagnosis of NTM disease after the laboratory work is complete.