ABSTRACT
This study evaluates the growth of mycobacteria in samples from cystic fibrosis (CF) patients and tissue samples using the mycobacteria growth indicator tube (MGIT) incubated at 30°C in comparison to conventional MGIT cultures incubated at 37°C in a BACTEC MGIT 960 device and solid media incubated at 36°C and 30°C. A total of 1,549 samples were analyzed, of which 202 mycobacterial isolates were cultured from 197 positive specimens, including five mixed cultures. The highest detection rate was achieved from MGIT at 30°C, with 84.2% of mycobacterial isolates (170 of 202), which was significantly higher than any other culture condition (P < 0.0001 for any condition). MGIT at 37°C yielded 61.4% (124 of 202) of the recovered isolates, whereas Löwenstein Jensen (LJ) and Stonebrink at 36°C, and LJ and Stonebrink at 30°C retrieved 47.0% (95), 49.5% (100), 50.0% (101), and 53.0% (107) of the isolates, respectively. Of the 53 isolates that were grown exclusively under one culture condition, the highest number of isolates (36) was recovered from MGIT incubated at 30°C. MGIT at 37°C recovered eight of the 53 isolates, whereas LJ incubated at 30°C and Stonebrink incubated at 30°C and 36°C recovered five, three, and one isolate, respectively. No isolates were grown exclusively from LJ incubated at 36°C. In CF patients and tissue samples, MGIT cultivated at 30°C for 8 weeks increases the performance of mycobacterial culture. IMPORTANCE: Our study shows that the addition of mycobacteria growth indicator tube (MGIT) liquid culture incubated at 30°C improves the detection of mycobacteria from CF and tissue samples. MGIT incubated at 30°C recovered significantly more mycobacterial isolates than MGIT incubated at 37°C and significantly more isolates than either Lowenstein Jensen or Stonebrink solid media incubated at either 36°C or 30°C. Of 202 mycobacterial isolates recovered from 1,549 specimens, 170 were recovered from MGIT incubated at 30°C, followed by MGIT incubated at 37°C with 124 isolates and solid media culture conditions that recovered between 95 and 107 mycobacterial isolates. All conventional culture conditions combined without MGIT incubated at 30°C recovered 166 isolates. MGIT incubated at 30°C recovered the highest number of isolates detected exclusively by a single culture condition and recovered mycobacterial isolates of highly relevant mycobacterial species, including Mycobacterium abscessus and Mycobacterium tuberculosis.