Portable Microbe Enrichment Unit (PMEU) method with microaerobic bubbling speeded up the growth of otherwise slowly starting and propagating Mycobacterium sp. Mycobacterium fortuitum growth was detected after 10-11h and Mycobacterium marinum produced clear growth in 4 days. A mycobacterial environmental isolate was verified in 2 days in the PMEU Spectrion(®) equipped with infrared sensors. In parallel static (without gas bubbling) cultures hardly any growth occurred. In conclusion, PMEU technology provided thus a rapid detection of environmental and clinical mycobacterial isolates. It would also help in the field diagnosis of antibiotic resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Keywords: Antibiotic resistance; Early diagnosis; Field microbiology; Infection; MDR; Mycobacteria; PMEU; Rapid microbiology; Tuberculosis; XDR.
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