TB and not TB: Mycobacteriology in Australia in the 21st century

Abstract

In the past, non-mycobacteriologists may well have viewed the specialty as a backwater where the science and scientists moved slowly, and the organisms grew even more slowly! Little changed over nearly a century as mycobacteriologists employed the classic microscopy and culture techniques that had been developed and refined over the 2 decades following Koch?s description of the tubercle bacillus in 1884. However, mycobacteriology has undergone a renaissance in the last decade following a resurgence of tuberculosis (TB) in the United States, the increased recognition of the clinical significance of non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), and the introduction of new molecular technologies such as nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT). This brief review and other articles in this edition will highlight some of the exciting changes and challenges in the field of mycobacteriology in Australia.