[Isolation of Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare from a hepatic biopsy]

A 64 years-old patient, who was a farmer suffering from chronic fever for two years, loss of weight and acute asthenia, was studied. He was admitted to "Pedro Kourí" Tropical Medicine Institute where the studies were conducted and revealed a globular sedimentation rate of 116 mm in 2 hours, and anemia of 9,8g% hemoglobin. The laparoscopic study indicated hepatic granulomatosis that was confirmed by hepatic biopsy in which a sample was taken from the liver to be microbiologically and cytologically examined. By microbiological methods, a non-pigmented slowly-growing strain was isolated, which was classified by conventional diagnostic techniques for the non-tuberculous mycobacteria classification and the alternative diagnosing technique known as bidimensional thin layer chromatography to confirm the previous classification and set the mycolic acid patterns. The isolated strain belonged to group III of Rynyon and was identified as Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare.