Evaluation of a novel rapidly-growing mycobacteria medium for isolation of Mycobacterium abscessus complex from respiratory specimens from patients with bronchiectasis

Barbara A Brown-Elliott; Susan Molina; Travis Fly; Ousman Njie; Patricia Stribley; Dominic Stephenson; Richard J Wallace Jr; John D Perry

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02684

Evaluation of a novel rapidly-growing mycobacteria medium for isolation of Mycobacterium abscessus complex from respiratory specimens from patients with bronchiectasis

Heliyon. 2019 Oct 24;5(10):e02684. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02684. eCollection 2019 Oct.

Authors

Barbara A Brown-Elliott¹, Susan Molina², Travis Fly², Ousman Njie², Patricia Stribley², Dominic Stephenson³, Richard J Wallace Jr¹, John D Perry³

Affiliations

¹ Mycobacteria/Nocardia Research Laboratory, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Texas, United States.
² Pathology Laboratory, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Texas, United States.
³ Microbiology Department, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.

Abstract

This single center study assessed the performance of a novel solid rapidly-growing mycobacteria (RGM) medium for the recovery of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), especially Mycobacterium abscessus complex, in patients with underlying bronchiectasis. A total of 297 mycobacterial sputa from 116 patients were plated directly on RGM medium and, following decontamination, onto an agar biplate [Middlebrook 7H11 and Mitchison (selective) agar] and into broth media (VersaTrek). The recovery of M. abscessus complex was increased by approximately 12% by implementation of the RGM medium. Contamination was reduced to 2% from 48% and 95% on routine solid media and broth cultures respectively. Our study corroborated previous studies in that recovery of M. abscessus complex was enhanced and contamination was virtually eliminated without the need for specimen decontamination when utilizing RGM medium.

Keywords: Cystic fibrosis; Microbiology; Mycobacteria; Mycobacterial culture; Mycobacterium abscessus; Rapidly growing mycobacteria.