Laboratory detection of mycobacteremia

Mycobacteremia, rarely seen or recognized before the AIDS epidemic, has now become common in patients with advanced HIV infection. With the introduction of new media and techniques for preparing specimens for media inoculation that lyse and concentrate organisms, our ability to detect mycobacteremia has improved such that we also occasionally detect these organisms in the blood of individuals with other underlying conditions. A precise understanding of the clinical and epidemiologic manifestations of mycobacteremia is not yet available, however, and additional advancements in blood culture techniques and alternative approaches to diagnosis will continue to be important in clinical microbiological research.