Prevalence of non-tuberculosis mycobacteria in patients referring to Mycobacteriology Research Center of Iran

Considering the increasing significance of diseases due to NTM all over the world, we investigated the burden of such diseases in our region. The aim of this study was to assess NTM prevalence from different clinical samples during a period of 8 years in Massih Daneshvari Hospital, in Iran. This descriptive study was performed on 8322 samples obtained from pulmonary TB patients in Mycobacteriology Research Center from 2004 -2012. Using Tb1 and Tb2 primers, a 190 bp fragment of IS6110 gene was amplified in order to identify Mycobacterium species. Specimens with negative IS6110 PCR results were analyzed with PCR-RFLP using hsp65 gene, for NTM investigation. Out of 8322 samples, we identified 124 (1.5%) strains of NTM. The mean age of the patients was 57 ± 18/9 years (age range: 7 - 88 years). 55/6 % of the patients were male. The most common species detected in our study were Mycobacterium simiae (44.3%), Mycobacterium chelonae (16.9%) and Mycobacterium kansasii (12.9%). We found a high prevalence rate of Mycobacterium simiae among our patients. Treatment protocols for NTM are different from the protocols for Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, so early diagnosis of these species will be of great importance.