Mycobacterium hassiacum
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Mycobacterium hassiacum
Description
Gram-positive, nonmotile, and partial acid-fast rods.
Colony characteristics
- Yellow, scotochromogenic, smooth and slimy (in dense growth) colonies (diameter 2-5mm). Distinct and drier colonies at temperatures between 40° and 65°C.
Physiology
- Aerobic and thermophilic rapid growth on Löwenstein-Jensen medium at a temperature range between 30°C and 65°C.
- Susceptible to streptomycin, ethambutol, cycloserine, ciprofloxacin and clarithromycin.
- Resistant to isoniazid, rifampin and prothionamide.
Differential characteristics
- Closely related to the slowly growing species M. xenopi.
- Easy to distinguish from other mycobacteria by its growth at 65°C
- Inability to utilise any sugar
- Ability to split benzamide.
Pathogenesis
- First isolated from urine in the German province of Hessen.
- Biosafety level 1
Type Strain
Strain 3849 = CCUG 37519 = CIP 105218 = DSM 44199 = JCM 12690.
References
- Schröder et al. 1997. Mycobacterium hassiacum sp. nov., a new rapidly growing thermophilic mycobacterium. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol., 47, 86-91.
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