Seminar

Non-tuberculous mycobacteria in cystic fibrosis

Prof. Andres Floto

Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are environmental organisms found in soil and water throughout the world that can cause chronic lung infection, usually in the context of structural lung disease or immunodeficiency. There is considerable evidence that rates of NTM infection are increasing in patients with Cystic Fibrosis (CF). In contrast to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, NTM were not previously thought to be transmissible from person to person nor re-activate following latent infection. This talk aims to summarize the epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment of NTM infection in CF patients focusing on the two most common mycobacterial groups causing disease: the M. avium-intracellulare complex (MAC) and the M. abscessus complex (MABSC), and will describe new genomic and genetic analyses that has revealed how MABSC has spread amongst the CF population and is evolving from an opportunistic to true lung pathogen.