Abstract

MEDEROS CUERVO, Lilian María et al. Identification of environmental or opportunistic mycobacterial species in symptomatic and HIV/AIDS patients. Salud(i)Ciencia [online]. 2020, vol.24, n.1-2, pp.12-17.  Epub May 03, 2020. ISSN 1667-8682.  http://dx.doi.org/www.dx.doi.org/10.21840/siic/163037.

The increase in infections by environmental or opportunistic mycobacteria (MAO) coincides worldwide with the decline in tuberculosis infection and an increase in infection by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The present work is a retrospective study carried out at theNational Reference Laboratory-Tuberculosis/Mycobacterial/Leprosy Research(LNRI-TB / Leprosy / Mycobacteria), of the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK), La Habana, Cuba, during the period January 2014-December 2018. The objective of our study was to know the variability of isolated species to establish an updated reference on the infections caused by MAO. In this study, 413 strains from symptomatic patients were classified and identified; 162 (39.22%) were isolates from patients with HIV/AIDS treated at our National Hospital of Reference for Attention to HIV/AIDS patients (IPK), and the remaining (n=251 [60.77%]), from immunocompetent patients, including isolates received from the Provincial Centers of Hygiene, Epidemiology, and Microbiology (CPHEM). The samples were analyzed with the established conventional techniques: the lung samples were decontaminated by the modified Petroff method; the extrapulmonary, by the 4% sulfuric acid method; the culture was carried out in modified Löwenstein-Jensen medium. Subsequently, the classification-identification of species was carried out according to the established phenotypic-biochemical scheme. The species with the highest percentage of isolation belonged to Groups III and IV, Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex (34.14%), and M. fortuitum complex (20.82%), respectively. These results will allow us to know the prevalence of these species in our country, emphasizing the diagnostic importance of these microorganisms and thus apply a specific treatment, especially in patients with risk factors, in whom the spread of the infection is more likely.

Keywords : environmental or opportunistic mycobacteria; HIV/Aids; Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex; Mycobacterium fortuitum complex; risk factor.

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