PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Hoefsloot, Wouter AU - van Ingen, Jakko AU - Andrejak, Claire AU - Ängeby, Kristian AU - Bauriaud, Rosine AU - Bemer, Pascale AU - Beylis, Natalie AU - Boeree, Martin J. AU - Cacho, Juana AU - Chihota, Violet AU - Chimara, Erica AU - Churchyard, Gavin AU - Cias, Raquel AU - Daza, Rosa AU - Daley, Charles L. AU - Dekhuijzen, P.N. Richard AU - Domingo, Diego AU - Drobniewski, Francis AU - Esteban, Jaime AU - Fauville-Dufaux, Maryse AU - Folkvardsen, Dorte Bek AU - Gibbons, Noel AU - Gómez-Mampaso, Enrique AU - Gonzalez, Rosa AU - Hoffmann, Harald AU - Hsueh, Po-Ren AU - Indra, Alexander AU - Jagielski, Tomasz AU - Jamieson, Frances AU - Jankovic, Mateja AU - Jong, Eefje AU - Keane, Joseph AU - Koh, Wo-Jung AU - Lange, Berit AU - Leao, Sylvia AU - Macedo, Rita AU - Mannsåker, Turid AU - Marras, Theodore K. AU - Maugein, Jeannette AU - Milburn, Heather J. AU - Mlinkó, Tamas AU - Morcillo, Nora AU - Morimoto, Kozo AU - Papaventsis, Dimitrios AU - Palenque, Elia AU - Paez-Peña, Mar AU - Piersimoni, Claudio AU - Polanová, Monika AU - Rastogi, Nalin AU - Richter, Elvira AU - Ruiz-Serrano, Maria Jesus AU - Silva, Anabela AU - da Silva, M. Pedro AU - Simsek, Hulya AU - van Soolingen, Dick AU - Szabó, Nora AU - Thomson, Rachel AU - Tórtola Fernandez, Teresa AU - Tortoli, Enrico AU - Totten, Sarah E. AU - Tyrrell, Greg AU - Vasankari, Tuula AU - Villar, Miguel AU - Walkiewicz, Renata AU - Winthrop, Kevin L. AU - Wagner, Dirk TI - The geographic diversity of nontuberculous mycobacteria isolated from pulmonary samples: an NTM-NET collaborative study AID - 10.1183/09031936.00149212 DP - 2013 Dec 01 TA - European Respiratory Journal PG - 1604--1613 VI - 42 IP - 6 4099 - https://publications.ersnet.org//content/42/6/1604.short 4100 - https://publications.ersnet.org//content/42/6/1604.full SO - Eur Respir J2013 Dec 01; 42 AB - A significant knowledge gap exists concerning the geographical distribution of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) isolation worldwide. To provide a snapshot of NTM species distribution, global partners in the NTM-Network European Trials Group (NET) framework (www.ntm-net.org), a branch of the Tuberculosis Network European Trials Group (TB-NET), provided identification results of the total number of patients in 2008 in whom NTM were isolated from pulmonary samples. From these data, we visualised the relative distribution of the different NTM found per continent and per country. We received species identification data for 20 182 patients, from 62 laboratories in 30 countries across six continents. 91 different NTM species were isolated. Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) bacteria predominated in most countries, followed by M. gordonae and M. xenopi. Important differences in geographical distribution of MAC species as well as M. xenopi, M. kansasii and rapid-growing mycobacteria were observed. This snapshot demonstrates that the species distribution among NTM isolates from pulmonary specimens in the year 2008 differed by continent and differed by country within these continents. These differences in species distribution may partly determine the frequency and manifestations of pulmonary NTM disease in each geographical location. Species distribution among nontuberculous mycobacteria isolates from pulmonary specimens is geographically diverse http://ow.ly/npu6r