Mycobacterium xenopi Genotype Associated with Clinical Phenotype in Lung Disease

Mycobacterium xenopi is responsible for pulmonary disease (PD) in Europe and Canada. Despite its high prevalence and increasing clinical importance, little is known about the genetic diversity of M. xenopi. Through a prospective study for M. xenopi strain type and the relation to clinical phenotype, 39 patients with M. xenopi PD were analyzed. Our study demonstrated that sequence type (ST) 5 was dominant in Ontario among 15 distinct STs and caused PD in people even without underlying lung disease, whereas disease due to non-ST5 was found almost exclusively in patients with underlying lung disease.