Isolation of Mycobacterium lentiflavum from a patient with a lung destroyed by tuberculosis.

Mycobacterium lentiflavum has recently been described as an emerging human pathogen without regard to the immune status of the host. We herein report on M. lentiflavum isolated from a respiratory specimen of a patient. Although the organism described in this case seems to be a colonizer of a lung destroyed by tuberculosis, the current methods for species identification of nontuberculous mycobacteria have to be re-evaluated so as not to underestimate these organisms.