[Non-tuberculous Mycobacteria: epidemiologic importance and current pathogenicity]

The non-tuberculosis mycobacteria are reviewed, with emphasis on the epidemiological and pathogenic importance of these organisms when the prevalence of tuberculosis diminishes. The increasing proportion of weak reactions to human tuberculin observed between 1975 and 1981 among school children of the Canton of Geneva and the relatively high number of non-tuberculosis mycobacteria demonstrated in human material between 1979 and 1981 in this Canton suggest that these mycobacteria also play a role in this country.