ABSTRACT
Microbiology Mycobacteria are strictly aerobic, slow-growing, intracellular bacilli. They are Gram positive, but do not stain easily, therefore, a special staining method (Ziel-Neelson) is used which includes a strong acid for decolorization (hence named acid-fast bacilli). They require special media for growth, e.g. Löwenstein–Jensen (LJ) medium which contains egg, asparagine and glycerol. Several mycobacterial species cause disease in humans, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, M. bovis, M. leprae and a large number of weakly pathogenic species, collectively named ‘atypical mycobacteria’.
