Isolation of mycobacteria from lymph nodes of pigs and their environment.

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Abstract
An attempt was made to isolate mycobacteria from the lymph nodes (LN) of 459 pigs at 4 abattoirs (Obihiro, Tokachi-Shimizu, Fukagawa and Kushiro, Japan), From 156 pigs selected at random at Tokachi-Shimizu highly contaminated with mycobacteria, mycobacteria were isolated from 49% (29/59) in the submaxillary LN and from 20% (13/65) in the mesentric LN. The average isolation rates of mycobacteria from the lymph node in all the pigs, except those at Tokachi-Shimizu, were 5.4% (16/294) from the submaxillary, 3.8% (11/293) from the pulmonary and 1.7% (5/298) from the mesenteric LN. When broken by the abattoir, they were 7% (7/100) at Fukagawa, 7.8% (8/102) at Kushiro and 13.8% (14/101) at Obihiro; the average was 9.57% (29/303). Three pigs harbored mycobacteria concurrently in 2 lymph nodes. A total of 76 strains of the mycobacterial isolates did not belong to Mycobacterium tuberculosis or M. bovis; a majority of them were so-called atypical mycobacteria. Of them, Runyon''s Group III organisms were predominant and most of them were identified as M. intracellulare serovars. M. avium serovar 1 was isolated from 2 pigs at Tokachi-Shimizu and Obihiro, respectively. This is apparently the 1st isolation of M. avium in Hokkaido. From 202 environmental specimens collected, 17 strains of mycobacteria were isolated. The strains of serovars 4, 6 and 8 of M. intracellulare, which are potentially pathogenic for man and animals, were isolated from soil, sewage and beddings. Isolation of M. intracellulare from soil, sewage and beddings is evidently a new finding in Japan.