Mycobacterium intracellulare

Mycobacterium intracellulare
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Bacteria
Phylum:	Actinobacteria
Order:	Actinomycetales
Suborder:	Corynebacterineae
Family:	Mycobacteriaceae
Genus:	Mycobacterium
Species:	M. intracellulare
Binomial name
Mycobacterium intracellulare Runyon 1965, ATCC 13950

Mycobacterium intracellulare is a species of the phylum actinobacteria (Gram-positive bacteria with high guanine and cytosine content, one of the dominant phyla of all bacteria), belonging to the genus Mycobacterium.

Description

"Gram-positive", nonmotile and acid-fast short to long rods.

Colony characteristics

• Usually smooth, rarely rough and nonpigmented colonies. Ageing colonies may become yellow.

Physiology

• Growth on Löwenstein-Jensen medium and Middlebrook 7H10 at 37°C after 7 or more days.
• Resistant to isoniazid, ethambutol, rifampin and streptomycin.

Differential characteristics

• M. intracellulare and Mycobacterium avium form the M. avium complex (MAC).
• Remarkable ITS heterogeneity within different M. intracellulare isolates.

Pathogenesis

• Most frequently encountered in pulmonary secretions from patients suffering from tuberculosis-like disease and from surgical specimens from such patients.
• When isolated from human secretions, it is often the etiologic agent of pulmonary disease, although frequently isolated as apparent casual resident
• Biosafety level 2

Type strain

• First isolated from fatal systemic disease in a child. Found in soil and water.

Strain ATCC 13950 = CCUG 28005 = CIP 104243 = DSM 43223 = JCM 6384 = NCTC 13025.