Changing Incidence and Characteristics of Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Infections in Scotland and Comparison With...

An increase in infections with nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) has been noted globally, and their incidence has overtaken that of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBc) in many countries. Using data from a national reference laboratory, we aimed to determine if this trend could be observed in Scotland.

We undertook a retrospective review of all NTM isolates received by the Scottish Mycobacteria Reference Laboratory (SMRL) over 9 years from 2011 to 2019 inclusive. Clinical episodes were defined as per 2017 British Thoracic Society and 2020 American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society/European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases/Infectious Diseases Society of America NTM guidelines. These rates were compared with Scottish tuberculosis rates over the same period.

Of 8552 NTM isolates from 4586 patients in 2011 to 2019, 7739 (90.5%) were considered clinically relevant. These represented 2409 episodes of NTM infection, with M. avium, M. intracellulare, and M. abscessus complex being most common. A total of 1953 (81.1%) were pulmonary NTM infection episodes from 1470 patients and 456 extrapulmonary episodes from 370 patients. We estimated a rise in incidence from 3.4 to 6.5 per 100 000 person-years (2011-2019 inclusive), with an increase in NTM incidence over MTBc incidence in Scotland by 2017.

The incidence of NTM infection in Scotland has overtaken MTBc incidence. NTM infection leads to a costly health care burden, possibly as much as UK£1.47 million (US$ and €1.73 million) annually. We recommend standardization of isolate referral with clinical surveillance and implementation of agreed standards of care delivered through multidisciplinary teams. This would improve diagnosis and patient management as well as assessment of diagnostics and novel treatments through clinical trials.