ISOLATION OF THE NEWLY DESCRIBED SPECIES MYCOBACTERIUM-CELATUM FROM AIDS PATIENTS

Mycobacterium celatum is a recently described species which, on the ba sis of conventional tests, may be misidentified as Mycobacterium xenop i or as belonging to the Mycobacterium avium complex. Only genomic seq uencing or high-performance liquid chromatography of cell wall mycolic acids can presently allow a correct identification of this mycobacter ium. Two cases of infection due to M. celatum, in AIDS patients, are d escribed here. The quantitative susceptibility pattern of the isolates to a wide spectrum of drugs is also reported.