page_title: Nontuberculous mycobacteria
section_title: Diagnosis
hierarchical_section_title: Nontuberculous mycobacteria / Diagnosis
caption_attribution_description: English: A) Neck and chest of a 53-year-old woman (case-patient 1) 14 days after fractionated CO2 laser resurfacing. B) Neck of the patient after 5 months of multidrug therapy and pulsed dye laser treatment. Français&#160;: A) Cou et poitrine d'une femme de 53 ans, 14 jours après le resurfaçage au laser CO2 fractionné B) cou du patient après 5 mois de thérapie avec de multiples médicaments et un traitement au laser à colorant pulsé.
context_page_description: Nontuberculous mycobacteria, also known as environmental mycobacteria, atypical mycobacteria and mycobacteria other than tuberculosis, are mycobacteria which do not cause tuberculosis or leprosy. NTM do cause pulmonary diseases that resemble tuberculosis. Mycobacteriosis is any of these illnesses, usually meant to exclude tuberculosis. They occur in many animals, including humans.
context_section_description: Diagnosis of opportunistic mycobacteria is made by repeated isolation and identification of the pathogen with compatible clinical and radiological features. Similar to M. tuberculosis, most nontuberculous mycobacteria can be detected microscopically and grow on Löwenstein-Jensen medium. Many reference centres now use a nucleic acid-based method such as sequence differences detection in the gene coding for 16S ribosomal RNA to identify the species.
  Pulmonary NTM disease diagnosis requires both identification of the mycobacterium in the patient's lung(s) as well as a high resolution CT scan of the lungs.
caption: A) Neck and chest of a 53-year-old woman 14 days after fractionated CO2 laser resurfacing, showing Nontuberculous Mycobacterial infection B) Neck of the patient after 5 months of multidrug therapy and pulsed dye laser treatment.
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