Enhanced mycobacterial diagnostics in liquid medium by microaerobic bubble flow in Portable Microbe Enrichment Unit

Portable Microbe Enrichment Unit (PMEU) method with microaerobic bubbling speeded up the growth of otherwise slowly starting and propagating Mycobacterium sp. Mycobacterium fortuitum growth was detected after 10–11 h and Mycobacterium marinum produced clear growth in 4 days. A mycobacterial environmental isolate was verified in 2 days in the PMEU Spectrion® equipped with infrared sensors. In parallel static (without gas bubbling) cultures hardly any growth occurred. In conclusion, PMEU technology provided thus a rapid detection of environmental and clinical mycobacterial isolates. It would also help in the field diagnosis of antibiotic resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis.