TY - JOUR AU - Marshall, Henry M. AU - Carter, Robyn AU - Torbey, Matthew J. AU - Minion, Sharri AU - Tolson, Carla AU - Sidjabat, Hanna E. AU - Huygens, Flavia AU - Hargreaves, Megan AU - Thomson, Rachel M. T1 - Mycobacterium lentiflavum in Drinking Water Supplies, Australia T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2011 VL - 17 IS - 3 SP - 395 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Mycobacterium lentiflavum, a slow-growing nontuberculous mycobacterium, is a rare cause of human disease. It has been isolated from environmental samples worldwide. To assess the clinical significance of M. lentiflavum isolates reported to the Queensland Tuberculosis Control Centre, Australia, during 2001–2008, we explored the genotypic similarity and geographic relationship between isolates from humans and potable water in the Brisbane metropolitan area. A total of 47 isolates from 36 patients were reported; 4 patients had clinically significant disease. M. lentiflavum was cultured from 13 of 206 drinking water sites. These sites overlapped geographically with home addresses of the patients who had clinically significant disease. Automated repetitive sequence–based PCR genotyping showed a dominant environmental clone closely related to clinical strains. This finding suggests potable water as a possible source of M. lentiflavum infection in humans. KW - Bacteria KW - nontuberculous mycobacteria KW - genotyping KW - Mycobacterium lentiflavum KW - environmental microbiology KW - potable water supply KW - fresh water microbiology KW - Australia KW - tuberculosis and other mycobacteria KW - research DO - 10.3201/eid1703.090948 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/17/3/09-0948_article ER - End of Reference