Mycobacterium hassiacum

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.