RESISTANCE OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF NONTUBERCULOS MYCOBACTERIA TO ALDEHYDE DISINFECTANTS

Abstract

Nontuberculos mycobacteria (NTM) are widely distributed, and investigation of their ecology establishes а basis for the development of new agents and methods for their identification, differentiation and devitalization. This study aimed to evaluate the resistance of different types of NTM to aldehyde-containing disinfectants with different concentrations of active ingredients. The experiments employed complex disinfectants with glutaraldehyde as the active ingredient. Test cultures of several types of NTM belonging to groups I (M. kansasii), II (M. gordonae, M. scrofulaceum), III (M. intracellulare, M. terrae, M. triviale, M. xenopi) and IV (M. diernhoferi, M. flavescens, M. fortuitum, M. phlei, M. smegmatis, M. thamnopheos) according to the Runyon classification, were used. The research confirmed that NTM of different species and strains show different resistance to the same disinfectant. The mycobacteria species M. fortuitum, M. intracellulare, M. scrofulaceum, and M. thamnopheos displayed the highest resistance to aldehyde-containing disinfectants. The effectiveness of an antimicrobial agent against mycobacteria depends on the concentration of the active ingredient and the duration of exposure. Future research should be focused on examining variations in the resistance of mycobacteria to new disinfectants from different chemical categories.