Mycobacterium canettii, the smooth variant of M-tuberculosis, isolated from a Swiss patient exposed in Africa

An exceptionally smooth and glossy morphotype of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex was isolated from a 56-year-old Swiss patient with mesenteric tube rculosis. Direct 16S rRNA sequence analysis of the hypervariable signature gene regions revealed a 100% homology to the specific M. tuberculosis compl ex sequence. Spoligotyping and restriction fragment length polymorphism ana lyses using the insertion sequences IS6110 and IS1081 and the polymorphic G C-rich sequence as additional genetic markers identified the isolate as the novel taxon M. canettii. Like a Somali child with a similar case, this pat ient probably contracted the infection in Africa, which raises questions ab out the geographic distribution of M. canettii.