Prevalence and speciation of non-tuberculous mycobacteria among pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis suspects in South India.

Abstract Background and objectives Non tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) is an emerging opportunistic pathogen increasing globally and indistinguishable from tuberculosis (TB), which remains a challenge particularly in developing countries. This study aimed to identify the prevalence and diversity of NTM among both pulmonary TB (PTB) and extrpulmonary TB (EPTB) clinical isolates from south India. Methodology A total of 7633 specimens from TB suspects (PTB, n = 4327 and EPTB, n = 3306) were collected during the study period (July 2018–March 2020) in a tertiary care hospital. The study specimens were subjected to Ziehl Neelsen (ZN) staining and Auramine phenol (AP) staining followed by Lowenstein–Jensen (LJ) and mycobacteria growth indicator tube (MGIT) culture. The MPT64 immunochromatographic test (ICT) was performed among mycobacterial cultures and ICT negative isolates were subjected to Line Probe Assay (LPA). In addition, 53 (PTB, 48 and EPTB, 5) NTM MGIT positive cultures were collected from Intermediate Reference Laboratory (IRL), Puducherry and subjected to LPA for speciation. Results Of the 7633 TB suspects, 0.6% were diagnosed as NTM diseases and 5.5% with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTBC). NTM infection was observed among 0.7% (31/4327) of PTB and 0.4% (14/3306) of EPTB. MTBC was detected among 6.1% (264/4327) of PTB and 4.6% (153/3306) of EPTB. Among 98 NTM cultures, 80.6% of isolates were recovered from PTB and 19.4% from EPTB specimens. Among pulmonary specimens, Mycobacterium intracellulare (26.6%), Mycobacterium abscessus (17.7%) and Mycobacterium kansasii (12.7%) were the most frequently detected species, while Mycobacterium intracellulare (21.1%), Mycobacterium scrofulaceum (15.8%) and Mycobacterium fortuitum (10.5%) were common in extrapulmonary specimens. Conclusion The frequency of NTM infection among TB suspects was low at a South Indian tertiary care hospital. The most predominant NTM species isolated from both pulmonary and extrapulmonary specimens was M. intracellulare.