First isolation of Mycobacterium brisbanense from humans in the Americas

TL;DR

This paper reports the first isolation of Mycobacterium brisbanense in humans in the Americas and analyzes its genetic and drug susceptibility profiles.

Contribution

The first report of human isolates of M. brisbanense in the Americas and their genetic and drug susceptibility analysis.

Findings

M. brisbanense was identified in six Brazilian patients, marking the first human isolates in the Americas.

Genetic sequences of the isolates were highly similar to the M. brisbanense type strain.

Susceptibility profiles differed for cefoxitin and doxycycline compared to the type strain.

Abstract

Mycobacterium brisbanense is a rare nontuberculous mycobacteria and was for the first time detected in the Americas in humans. However, this, like several other species of mycobacteria, may be underreported worldwide. Therefore, their study is increasingly important.

The aim of this article is to report and analyse the first seven human isolates of M. brisbanense in the Americas, derived from six Brazilian patients.

We sequenced the genes hsp65, rpoB and 16s rRNA, of seven mycobacterial clinical isolates, constructed a phylogenetic tree, and determined their drug susceptibility profile.

The regions sequenced were highly similar between the M. brisbanense type strain and the Brazilian strains. Similarly, their susceptibility profiles were similar to that of M. brisbanense type strain, except for two antibiotics tested, cefoxitin and doxycycline.

All studied strains were identified at the species level by a concatenated tree as M. brisbanense.

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