sengalense 2   M. simiae   2 M. species NFI 5 4 M. terrae 2   M. tilburgii 2 1 M. triplex   1 M. wolinsky   1 MAC   3 TOTAL 130 408 Summer Of 1140 cultures processed in summer, only 1.6% were negative, 30.1% were overgrown, 50.2% were positive and 18.2% were positive with contaminants. Unfortunately, of the positive plates that were subcultured, a large percentage became contaminated and the mycobacterial yield was disappointing. There was a wide variety of species identified using 16s rRNA sequencing (Table 3). Those isolates identified as M. abscessus/M. chelonae underwent subsequent hsp65 and rpoB gene fragment sequencing

for further differentiation. Exhaustive speciation was not performed as only potentially PRI-724 manufacturer pathogenic mycobacteria were of interest. Overall there were more species identified in winter. All of the M. intracellulare, MAC, M. lentiflavum, M. simiae, M. chelonae isolates were found in winter, along with the majority Selleck mTOR inhibitor of other pathogenic species such as M. abscessus, M. kansasii, and M. mucogenicum. M. poriforae and M. fluoranthenivorans were predominantly found in summer samples and M. fortuitum and M. mucogenicum were found equally in winter and summer. Decontamination Decontamination made a statistically SRT1720 solubility dmso significant difference to culture results for all media used (p < 0.0001 for all). Overall decontamination did decrease the overgrowth

and contamination of positive plates, and increased the yield from positive plates (Table 4). Table 4 Effect of decontamination on culture results for different media Media Decontamination Culture result n (%) Significance     Negative Positive Positive + contaminants

Overgrown   MGIT Winter No 43 (21.9) 35 (17.9) 115 (58.7) 3 (1.5) p < 0.0001* Yes 99 (50.8) 49 (25.1) 46 (23.6) 1 (0.5) MGIT + PANTA Winter No 4 (0.7) 48 (24.7) 82 (42.3) 3 (1.5) p < 0.0001* Yes 14 (2.5) 64 (32.8) 19 (9.7) 1 (0.5) 7H11 Summer No 4 (0.7) 234 (41.1) 145 (25.4) 187 (32.8) p < 0.0001 Yes 14 (2.5) 338 (59.3) 62 (10.9) 156 (27.4) 7H11 Winter No 46 (7.9) 313 (53.5) 115 (19.7) 111 (19) Yes 161 (27.5) 335 (57.3) 20 (3.4) 69 (11.8) The use of the MGIT tubes in winter increased the yield for certain species PFKL of mycobacteria. There were 13 isolates of M. abscessus – 10 of these were only grown using liquid media (7 MGIT + PANTA, 3MGIT). However the three isolates that grew on solid media were from sites that were not picked up by liquid media. M. lentiflavum was only identified in winter samples. Eight sites grew M. lentiflavum from MGIT only (1 MGIT, 7 MGIT + PANTA). It was grown on solid media from 6 sites – 4 of these sites also had positive MGITs (2) and MGIT + PANTA (3). For the majority of sites from which M. gordonae was identified, it was detected using M7H11. However, from ten sites it was only grown from MGIT tubes (4 MGIT + PANTA). Twenty-four sites grew M. kansasii only from MGIT (11 MGIT + PANTA only).