UNCLASSIFIED ACID-FAST CHROMOGENS ENCOUNTERED IN 14 PATIENTS IN TUBERCULOSIS HOSPITAL

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Abstract
Sputum cultures collected from 14 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis were cultured for tubercle bacilli. Although typical Mycobacterium tuberculosis was never obtained from the series of specimens, an unusual type of acid-fast organism was obtained repeatedly from each patient. These cultures did not produce disease in chickens or rabbits. The usual infecting dose of 0.1 mg (moist weight) of culture did not cause infection in guinea pigs even when the animals were injected daily with cortisone for eight weeks. When the inoculum was increased to 5 mg, the animals showed nonprogressive disease at eight weeks. Various other virulence tests indicated that these cultures were avirulent.