Diagnosis, prevalence and drug resistance of mycobacteria in HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients of an urban population in Germany.

In a survey of 3004 clinical specimens from 1112 HIV-negative and 679 clinical specimens from 140 HIV-positive patients which were submitted to our mycobacterial laboratory, we have analysed the different diagnostic approaches concerning mycobacterial disease in these two populations. We have assessed specimen-type, culture result, microscopical diagnosis and prevalence in relation to HIV status. Isolation rates of mycobacteria were highest in blood cultures from HIV-positive patients. 10 out of 140 HIV-positive patients had positive mycobacterial culture results. All 10 had positive blood cultures, but only three of them were positive for M. tuberculosis.