ABSTRACT
I. Introduction Shortly following the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by Koch in 1882, several other species of mycobacteria were described. However, it was not clear until the 1950s that some could cause disease in humans (1). The terms “mycobacteria other than tuberculosis” (TB), “environmental mycobacteria,” “anonymous or atypical mycobacteria,” and “nontuberculous mycobacteria” (NTM) have been used to describe these and refer to species other than those in the M. tuberculosis complex. Collectively, 130 species have been identified and many have been reported to cause pulmonary disease, lymphadenitis, soft tissue infections, bone and joint disease, genitourinary disease, eye infections, and disseminated disease. This chapter uses the term “NTM” and focuses on the pulmonary disease caused by these organisms.
