DISTRIBUTION AND PHENOTYPIC PROPERTIES OF ATYPICAL MYCOBACTERIA ISOLATED FROM PIGS AND AMBIENT MEDIUM OBJECTS
In this article, the authors reviewed an experiment in which 106 cultures of acid-fast mycobacteria (8.8%) were isolated. These cultures were isolated by bacteriological examination of 1207 biomaterial samples from pigs, birds and environmental samples. From the biomaterial of pigs reactive to tuberculin, 7.5% cultures were isolated. From the biomaterial of backyard chickens on the pig farmer’s farm 12.5% of samples were isolated; 120 samples were isolated from synanthropic birds (pigeons, sparrows). Of these, on-farm birds accounted for 7.5%; 9.4% were isolated from environmental samples outside the premises of the pig farm. The study of phenotypic properties showed the belonging of isolated cultures of mycobacteria to three groups according to Runyon classification (II, III and IV). The authors found that 6 species of atypical mycobacteria, including M. xenopi, M. avium-intracellulare, M. fortuitum, M. smegmatis, M. phlei and M. scrofulaceum. The presence of mycobacteria was confirmed by cultural, morphological and biochemical properties. In the species composition of mycobacterial cultures, M. avium-intracellulare was the most common with 51.4 %,M. smegmatis with 20.8 % and M. scrofulaceum with 11.1 %.