The majority of investigations of the
epidemiology of
nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) have focused on highly
developed nations with a low
prevalence of
tuberculosis. In contrast, the Para
state of north
Brazil represents an area of high
tuberculosis prevalence and increasing NTM
incidence. Toward the
goal of
understanding the dynamics of
infection by all
Mycobacterium species, we
report patient characteristics and the identification of NTM
strains isolated from
sputum samples from
patients that were residents of Para, a
state in the
Amazon region, Northern of
Brazil, over the period January 2010 through December 2011 (2 years). The 29 NTM
patients comprised 13.5 per cent of positive mycobacterial
cultures over the 2-year period. A major
risk factor for NTM
pulmonary disease was previous
tuberculosis (76 per cent). Further, the average age of NTM
patients (52 years) was significantly higher than that of
tuberculosis patients (39 years) and more were
female (72.4 per cent vs. 37.4 per cent). Unlike other Brazilian states, NTM pulmonary
patients in Para were infected with a different spectrum of
mycobacteria; primarily the rapidly growing
Mycobacterium massiliense and
Mycobacterium simiae complex. (AU)