Serological Investigations of Mycobacterium Avium and M. Avium-Like Bacteria Isolated from Domestic and Wild Animals

One hundred and two Mycobacterium avium and M. avium-like strains isolated from domestic and wild animals were submitted to serological typing by means of the agglutination method developed by Schaefer. Of the 82 porcine strains M. intracellulare serotype 8 dominated, followed in order of frequency by serotypes 1, 4, 2, 10 and 6. Of the 20 strains originating from other animals 7 were typed as either serotype 2, 3, 8 or 10. The 3 strains isolated from wild birds were all serotype 2. As a considerable number of the wild animal strains were autoagglutinable, the suitability of the agglutination test for typing such strains is discussed.