Isolation of Mycobacteria from drinking water in Palermo.

Mycobacteria other than tuberculosis (MOTT) were isolated from 20 of 54 samples (37%) of tap water collected in Palermo in the period April-July 1984. The 55 isolates were M. gordonae (40), M. scrofulaceum (9), MAIS organisms (3), M. fortuitum (2), M. non photochromogenic (1). M. gordonae was isolated from 16 of the 20 positive samples and in five of them in association to other MOTT. A study of MOTT spread in other levels of piping system, showed, as already reported in similar studies, that some places, like taps and tanks, are probably favourable to more or less persistent MOTT colonization.