[EWS2] A World Tuberculosis Day;from knowledge so far to current research topics about mycobacteria and mycobacteriosis

[EWS2-2] Population structure of Mycobacterium abscessus in patients with Cystic Fibrosis

○Astrid Lewin¹, Elisabeth Kamal¹, Torsten Semmler², Katja Winter³, Sandra Appelt³, Hubert Schäfer¹, Lei Mao¹, Patience Eschenhagen⁴, Claudia Grehn⁴, Carsten Schwarz⁴ (¹Unit 16 Mycotic and Parasitic Agents and Mycobacteria, Robert Koch Institute, Seestraße 10, Berlin, Germany, ²Unit NG 1 Microbial Genomics, Robert Koch Institute, Nordufer 20, Berlin, Germany, ³Unit MF1 Bioinformatics, Robert Koch Institute, Seestraße 10, Berlin, Germany, ⁴Dept. Pediatrics, Div. Pulmonology, Immunology and Intensive Care Medicine, Div. Cystic Fibrosis, Charité – Universitätsmedizin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany)

Mycobacterium (M.) abscessus infections in Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patients represent a serious threat for these patients. Treatment of M. abscessus is associated with severe side-effects, while frequently unsuccessful. Insight on M. abscessus in-patient evolution would be beneficial for improving treatment strategies.
To explore M. abscessus population structure in a CF center in Berlin, Germany, 42 patients were enrolled in a longitudinal study that also provided information on in-patient evolution during chronic infection by M. abscessus.
Phylogenetic analysis of genomes from isolates from 11 M. abscessus-infected patients revealed presence of global human-transmissible strains in the study group, while transmission among patients was not demonstrated. Comparative genome analysis of serial isolates from one patient taken over 4.5 years revealed occurrence of mutations in virulence- and resistance-associated genes and genomic diversification during chronic lung infection by M. abscessus.