[Sensivity of Mycobacterium kansaii and Mycobacterium marinum to different antituberculous drugs (author's transl)].

Mycobacteriosis includes clinical manifestations caused by especies of the genus Mycobacterium other than M. tuberculosis and M. bovis. Therapy for these conditions has not been clearly sistematized as it has for tuberculosis, particularly because of the natural resistance that the etiologic agents present to a large number of antituberculous drugs. The sensitivity of M. kansasii and M. marinum to eleven tuberculostatic agents was studied in order to determine which one were best suited for treatment of cases caused by these species. The drugs showing the strongest action against M. kansasii were rifampin, cycloserine, streptomycin, and prothionamide. M. marinum was even more sensitive except to isoniazid, which is ineffective. As a general rule, especially if the sensitivity of the isolated strain is unknown drugs with little or no action on M. kansasii and M. marinum should not be used. Particularly the use of isoniazid and PAS should be avoided.