What is meant by atypical tuberculosis?
Atypical TB, of which MAC (Mycobacterium avium-complex) is one type ( other types being M. Kansasii etc ) is not spread from human to human , but is present in the environment and affects and infects specific groups of persons.
Is atypical tuberculosis curable?
A 2019 retrospective study in Taiwan concluded that surgical resection of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) solitary pulmonary nodules is curative in asymptomatic patients without positive culture of the same NTM species from respiratory specimens and a history of NTM pulmonary disease.
What is meant by atypical mycobacteria?
Atypical mycobacteria or nontuberculous mycobacteria are organisms that cause various diseases such as skin and soft tissue infection, lymphadenitis, pulmonary infection, disseminated infection, and a wide range of more rarely encountered infections.
How do you get atypical tuberculosis?
Atypical mycobacteria are common in the environment and can be found in water (including tap water), soil, food, and on animals. Occasionally atypical mycobacteria cause disease in humans.
What causes atypical tuberculosis?
What is an atypical mycobacterial infection? Atypical mycobacterial infections are infections caused by a species of mycobacterium other than Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative bacteria of pulmonary TB and extrapulmonary TB including cutaneous TB; and Mycobacterium leprae, the cause of leprosy.
How is atypical mycobacteria diagnosed?
Biopsy of the skin, involved lymph nodes, and lung can be used to diagnose atypical mycobacteria. The tissue obtained can be used for cultures of the tissue and for histopathologic examination.
What is the clinical importance of atypical mycobacteria?
Atypical mycobacteria, or more correctly non-tuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) species, are a ubiquitous group of environmental organisms that have potential to cause pathological presentations, varying from skin and superficial infections to deeper infections with or without systemic dissemination.
What happens if you don’t treat NTM?
Without treatment, many people will develop a progressive lung infection. Cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, and often weight loss are symptoms. MAC is the most common species of NTM that causes infections in humans, and the lungs are the most common site for infection.
What happens if NTM is not treated?
if you don’t take your medication regularly the NTM bacteria can become resistant to the antibiotics you were taking, making them much harder to treat. you may need to take more medication. bacteria can still exist even after samples come back negative. you may need to have injections as well as tablets.