Research Article

Distribution of nontuberculous mycobacteria in treated patients with pulmonary disease in Greece – relation to microbiological data

Katerina Manika

*Author for correspondence:

E-mail Address: ktmn05@yahoo.gr

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Stamatoula Tsikrika

Tuberculosis Department, ‘Sotiria’ Chest Diseases Hospital, Athens, Greece

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Emilia Tsaroucha

Tuberculosis Department, ‘Sotiria’ Chest Diseases Hospital, Athens, Greece

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Simona Karabela

National Mycobacteria Reference Laboratory, ‘Sotiria’ Chest Diseases Hospital, Athens, Greece

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Iris Karachaliou

Tuberculosis Department, ‘Sotiria’ Chest Diseases Hospital, Athens, Greece

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Ioulia Bosmi

Tuberculosis Department, ‘Sotiria’ Chest Diseases Hospital, Athens, Greece

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Ioannis Kioumis

Respiratory Infections Unit, Pulmonary Department, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, ‘G Papanikolaou’ Hospital, Exohi, Thessaloniki, 57010, Greece

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Apostolos Papavasileiou

Tuberculosis Department, ‘Sotiria’ Chest Diseases Hospital, Athens, Greece

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Published Online:30 Jul 2015https://doi.org/10.2217/FMB.15.50

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Abstract

Aims. The aim was to assess the distribution of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) in treated patients with pulmonary disease (PD) in Greece. Patients & methods. Patients treated for NTM PD at the two largest chest diseases hospitals in Greece, in the period 1990–2013 were investigated. For the years 2005–2013 data on NTM isolation frequency were recorded. Results.M. avium complex (MAC) was the predominant cause of NTM PD disease followed by M. kansasii and rapid growing mycobacteria (RGM). The pathogenicity of RGM was significantly lower than this of MAC and M. kansasii. An increase was observed in the percentage of isolated NTM species that were considered clinically significant over the study period. Conclusions. The increasing number of NTM PD in Greece is a consequence of their isolation being more frequently considered as clinically relevant.

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Papers of special note have been highlighted as: • of interest; •• of considerable interest

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Vol. 10, No. 8

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Published online 30 July 2015

Published in print August 2015

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Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.

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