Patent ID: 8084212

Claim:
A method for detecting whether a sample contains nucleic acid from Mycobacterium avium ( M. avium ) or Mycobacterium intracellulare ( M. intracellulare ), said method comprising: assessing the presence or absence of a first target nucleic acid in said sample; and assessing the presence or absence of a second target nucleic acid in said sample; identifying the sample as containing nucleic acid from M. avium, M. intracellulare , or M. avium serovars 2/3, wherein the presence of said first target nucleic acid indicates that the sample contains M. avium , wherein the absence of said first target nucleic acid and the presence of said second target nucleic acid indicates that the sample contains M. intracellulare , and wherein the presence of said first and second target nucleic acids indicates that the sample contains M. avium serovar 2 or M. avium serovar 3, wherein said first target nucleic acid is specific for the insertion sequence transposase (IS1245) gene of M. avium and said second target nucleic acid is specific for the DT1 gene of M. intracellulare, M. avium serovar 2 and M. avium serovar 3 and wherein said sample is not a gastric aspirate or a stool sample.