A Comparative Study of Mycobacteria from Patients' Room Dusts and from Sputa of Tuberculous Patients

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  • TSUKAMURA Michio
    The National Sanatorium Chubu Chest Hospital National Institute of Animal Health
  • MIZUNO Shoji
    The National Sanatorium Chubu Chest Hospital National Institute of Animal Health
  • MURATA Hiroshi
    The National Sanatorium Chubu Chest Hospital National Institute of Animal Health
  • NEMOTO Hisashi
    The National Sanatorium Chubu Chest Hospital National Institute of Animal Health
  • YUGI Hiroyuki
    The National Sanatorium Chubu Chest Hospital National Institute of Animal Health

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  • A comparative study of mycobacteria from patients' room dusts and from sputa of tuberculous patients Source of pathogenic mycobacteria occurring in the sputa of tuberculous patients as casual isolates
  • A comparative study of mycobacteria from patients' room dust and from sputa of tuberculous patients. Source of pathogenic mycobacteria occurring in the sputa of tuberculous patients as casual isolates
  • Source of Pathogenic Mycobacteria Occurring in the Sputa of Tuberculous Patients as Casual Isolates

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Abstract

The source of mycobacteria other than Wycobacterium tuberculosis occurring in sputa of tuberculous patients as casual isolates was investigated by comparing the occurrence rate of mycobacterial species between patient's room dust and patient's sputum. Almost all species of mycobacteria recovered from sputa could be found in dusts obtained from the rooms. However, the percentage of occurrence of the mycobacterial species in dusts differed from that in sputa. In dusts, Mycobacterium fortuitum (39.6%), Mycobacterium nonchromogenicum (23.5%) and Mycobacterium gordonae (16.7%) occurred in high frequencies, whereas Mycobacterium intracellulare (69.6%), M. gordonae (5.9%), Mycobacterium scrofulaceum (5.2%), and Gordona bronchialis (10.4%) were the main species found in sputa. The patterns of occurrence of mycobacterial species as illustrated above may suggest that pathogenic mycobacteria survive in the respiratory tract while nonpathogenic ones are destroyed there, thus the human body acts as a selective medium for the pathogenic mycobacterial species. Serotype studies on strains of M. intracellulare as casual isolates indicated that those from sputa of tuberculous patients were different from those derived from patients with lung diseases due to this species of mycobacteria. These results led us to the conclusion that mycobacteria in patients' room dusts were the source of mycobacteria occurring in sputa as casual isolates, particularly the pathogenic mycobacteria in dusts are more likely to survive in the human respiratory tract, occasionally multiplying and causing disease under favorable circumstances.

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