Unclassified Mycobacterial Diseases

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Abstract
Infections with "atypical" or "unclassified" mycobacteria are, at the present time, significant causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States. It seems likely that, as the incidence of infection with M. tuberculosis declines, the relative frequency of cases of atypical mycobacterial disease will increase. It seems they represent mycobacterial strains which have been of clinical significance for years but which were unrecognized until cultural isolation of mycobacteria became widely practiced. The great majority of cases of human disease caused by atypical mycobacteria are caused by infection with either Group I or m organisms. The disease characteristics of these infections have been fairly well established, and closely resemble those of tuberculosis. Such is not the case for infections due to Group n or IV mycobacteria. In all instances of atypical mycobacterial infection, the organisms are demonstrably deficient in virulence, and therefore, where disease develops, the question of host deficiency arises. Cultural characterization, drug susceptibility and niacin testing, and chemotherapy monitoring usually are best accomplished within the laboratory and clinical program of the tuberculosis institution.