Oehlers, S. H., & Ng, D. H. L. (2025). Mycobacterium abscessus treatment: From empiricism to mechanism. Annals of the Academy of Medicine Singapore, 54(11), 684. https://doi.org/10.47102/annals-acadmedsg.2025330
Abstract:
Singapore has reached an inflection point in mycobacterial disease epidemiology, where nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) lung infections now nearly surpass tuberculosis (TB) in both incidence and prevalence.1 Of the >180 known NTM subspecies, members of the Mycobacterium abscessus complex (MABC), comprising 3 phylogenetic subspecies—abscessus, bolletii and massiliense—are disproportionately represented in Singapore, accounting for an estimated 30% of incident NTM lung infections.1,2 The trend in “replacement” of TB with pulmonary NTM infection is reflected in other industrialised settings, where better control of TB and better NTM awareness and diagnostics have driven a relative decline in TB and a rise in NTM disease. At the same time, the predominance of MABC over Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) in Singapore appears to reflect environmental and climatic determinants; unlike many temperate settings where MAC is dominant, our tropical climate favours MABC as the major pathogen.3 Together, these indicators suggest we will continue to encounter more MABC infections for the foreseeable future.
License type:
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
Funding Info:
There was no specific funding for the research done