Volume 15, Number 2—February 2009
Research
Nontuberculous Mycobacteria, Zambia
Patricia C.A.M. Buijtels
, Marianne A.B. van der Sande, Cas S. de Graaff, Shelagh Parkinson, Henri A. Verbrugh, Pieter L.C. Petit, and Dick van Soolingen
, Marianne A.B. van der Sande, Cas S. de Graaff, Shelagh Parkinson, Henri A. Verbrugh, Pieter L.C. Petit, and Dick van SoolingenTable 1
Culture results for 180 hospitalized chronically ill patients and 385 controls, Zambia, August 2002–March 2003*
| Results | Patients | Controls |
|---|---|---|
| Culture exclusively Mycobacterium tuberculosis, no. (%) | 60 (33) | 2 (0.5) |
| Culture M. tuberculosis and NTM, no. (%) | 12 (7) | 1 (0.3) |
| Culture exclusively NTM,† no. (%) | 19 (11) | 61 (16) |
| Culture NTM,‡ no. (%) | 31 (17) | 62 (16) |
| 2 sputum or gargle samples cultured | 154 | 383 |
| 2 sputum or gargle samples cultured from NTM-positive person | 29 of 31 NTM-positive patients | 62 of 62 NTM-positive controls |
| 1 NTM-positive culture in NTM-positive person with 2 samples cultured | 22 of 29 NTM-positive patients | 61 of 62 NTM-positive controls |
| 1 NTM-positive cultures in NTM-positive person with 2 samples cultured | 4 of 29 NTM-positive patients | 1 of 62 NTM-positive controls |
| 2 NTM-positive cultures in persons with 2 samples cultured§ | 4 of 154 patients with 2 samples cultured | 1 of 383 controls with 2 samples cultured |
*NTM, nontuberculous mycobacteria.
†Proportion of patients with exclusively NTM was comparable with controls (p = 0.2).
‡NTM isolated with or without M. tuberculosis.
§Significantly more patients than controls had 2 sputum or gargle cultures positive for NTM (p<0.05).
