Mycobacterium intracellulare subsp. chimaera from Cardio Surgery Heating-Cooling Units and from Clinical Samples in Israel Are Genetically Unrelated.

ABSTRACT: Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are opportunistic pathogens that cause illness primarily in the elderly, in the immunocompromised or in patients with underlying lung disease. Since 2013, a global outbreak of NTM infection related to heater-cooler units (HCU) used in cardio-thoracic surgery has been identified. This outbreak was caused by a single strain of Mycobacterium intracellulare subsp. chimaera. In order to estimate the prevalence of this outbreak strain in Israel, we sampled Mycobacterium intracellulare subsp. chimaera from several HCU machines in Israel, as well as from patients, sequenced their genomes and compared them to the outbreak strain. The presence of mixed mycobacteria species in the samples complicated the analysis of obtained sequences. By applying a me

SUBMITTER: Rubinstein M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8624631 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature