Background: M. intracellulare is a frequent causative pathogen of nontuberculous mycobacteria infection that causes infections in the respiratory tract, whose incidence is increasing in many countries. This study aimed at determining the VNTR-based genetic diversity of a collection of 39 M. intracellulare human strains isolated from respiratory specimens over the last 5 years.
Results: The VNTR analysis showed that M. intracellulare strains displayed a high genetic diversity, indicating that the M. intracellulare genotypes are quite heterogeneous in our geographical area. Moreover, a comparison with VNTR profiles of strains from other countries confirmed that genotypes of clinical strains of M. intracellulare are not related to geographical origin.
Conclusions: VNTR typing has proved to be a highly discriminatory method for better understanding the molecular epidemiology of M. intracellulare.
Keywords: Molecular typing; Mycobacterium intracellulare; VNTR analysis.
© 2021. The Author(s).