There are several types of nontuberculous mycobacteriosis

  Mycobacterium bovis is a small group of rod-shaped bacilli that can be divided into 3 main types for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.  1, Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a complex group consisting of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis), Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis), Mycobacterium africanum (M. africanum), Mycobacterium volei (M. microti), and Mycobacterium canetti, which cause tuberculosis.  2, Mycobacterium leprae (M. Leprae) can cause leprosy.  3, Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) other than the above two categories of mycobacteria, can cause lung disease, similar to tuberculosis, as well as cause lymphadenitis, skin disease or other disseminated diseases.  Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are also called environmental mycobacteria, atypical mycobacteria, mycobacteria other than tuberculosis NTM is widely distributed in nature and can be found in soil, dust, grass, swamp, milk, human skin, human and animal feces. Especially in moist soils, wetlands, streams, rivers and estuaries, etc. NTM are pathogenic or conditionally pathogenic bacteria. The acquisition of human mycobacteriosis is thought to be caused by environmental exposure, unlike tuberculosis and leprosy, and there has been no evidence of animal-to-human or human-to-human transmission of NTM disease. Recent studies have shown a much higher incidence of NTM. In the United States, some experts in the field estimate that pulmonary NTM is at least 10 times more common than TB, with at least 150,000 cases per year. The Mycobacterium species involved in most NTM cases are Mycobacterium abscessus, Mycobacterium incidentalis, and Mycobacterium kansasii. The increasing frequency of Mycobacterium abscessus is considered to be a particularly difficult disease to treat.  NTM is a large group. As isolation and identification techniques have improved and evolved, the number of NTM species has increased rapidly. From about 50 types in 1997 to more than 125 types in 2007. in 1959, the botanist Ernest Runyon divided these human disease-associated bacteria into four groups (Runyon classification) coloration in light and after exposure, e.g., Mycobacterium kansasii, Mycobacterium simiae, and Mycobacterium marinum; coloration in dark coloration, e.g., Mycobacterium scrofula and Mycobacterium beetle (szulgai); non-chromogenic mycobacteria, which include the group of universal opportunistic pathogens called Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC), others are Mycobacterium terrae, Mycobacterium malmoense, Mycobacterium ulcerans, Mycobacterium xenopi, Mycobacterium haemophilum infection, and Mycobacterium genavense; fast-growing mycobacteria include four recognized pathogenic fast-growing non-chromogenic mycobacteria: Mycobacterium torulare, Mycobacterium abscessus, Mycobacterium avium, and Mycobacterium peregrinum. There are few examples of other mycobacteria that cause disease, such as Mycobacterium pubescens and Mycobacterium bitterii.  NTM disease mostly occurs secondary to chronic lung diseases such as bronchiectasis, pneumoconiosis, pneumoconiosis, chronic fibro-cavernous form of tuberculosis, and common complications of AIDS, as well as traumatic injuries in seafood producers and sellers, and pulmonary diseases and trauma in people serving animals.  NTM often causes pulmonary infections and infections in traumatic wounds and can also cause lymph node infections. Commonly, pulmonary NTM, lymphadenitis, skin soft tissue infections such as: post-traumatic abscess, pool granuloma (caused by Mycobacterium marie), brucellosis (caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans), etc. Severe cases can also cause hematogenous dissemination such as: endocarditis, pleurisy, peritonitis, meningitis, osteoarthritis, synovitis, nephritis, etc.  NTM has both the manifestations and characteristics of tuberculosis. In addition, it is difficult to diagnose and requires mycotype identification to be confirmed. It is often easily misdiagnosed as tuberculosis. Since NTM is resistant to most antibiotics and first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs, the treatment effect is often unsatisfactory, and often the bacilli are still being excreted after one year of anti-tuberculosis treatment. Moreover, it takes second- and third-line anti-TB drugs to control the disease, so the cost is high and the time is long.  The occurrence of NTM disease should be considered in patients with lungs that are not satisfactorily treated with long-term anti-tuberculosis therapy, patients with long-term wounds that do not heal from trauma, and patients with long-term enlarged lymph nodes that do not heal.