SPECIFICITY OF MYCOBACTERIAL SENSITINS .2. STUDIES IN GUINEA PIGS WITH PURIFIED SENSITIN PREPARED FROM UNCLASSIFIED ACID-FAST BACILLI

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Abstract
Purified tuberculin ("sensitin") was prepared from 37 unclassified strains of acid-fast bacteria, and their specificity (cross reactivity) studied by means of comparative intradermal testing in guinea pigs sensitized with the strains in question. On the basis of their specificity, the sensitins from 10 photochromogenic strains (Mycobacterium kansasii) form one group. The specificity of two Battey sensitins was different from that of mammalian and avian tuberculin and from M. kansasii sensitin. Sensitin from strain ATCC 607 had a similar specificity to that of M. smegmatis sensitin, and sensitin prepared from "Mycobacterium X" had the same specificity as Battey sensitin. Two sensitins prepared from Indian orange-pigmented strains could be grouped together with sensitin from a Danish orange-pigmented strain, although sensitin from an orange-pigmented strain isolated in Africa did not fit into this group. One of the sensitins prepared from other Danish strains had a similar specificity to that of avian tuberculin; 2 had the same specificity as Battey sensitin, while the remaining 8 preparations could be divided into 4 groups. None of the 8 sensitins prepared from African strains fitted into any of these groups but formed 4 separate groups. On the whole, grouping of acid-fast bacteria on the basis of sensitin specificity correlates well with grouping based on other bacteriologic criteria. The method may be useful for identification of acid-fast bacteria difficult to classify by other means.