Phage typing of Mycobacterium kansasii.

An improved phage typing scheme of M. kansasii is presented. Ultrasonic treatment of the bacterial suspensions was successfully used in order to obtain homogeneous bacterial growth and to improve the reproducibility of the typing. By means of 9 phages 14 lysis patterns (phage types) could be distinguished. The phage typing was applied to 450 strains of Dutch, British and Czechoslovakian origin. The epidemiological relationships between environmental and clinical isolates of M. kansasii among the strains of Dutch and Czechoslovakian origin was confirmed by the results of phage typing.