Mycobacterium cosmeticum closeup

Description:

Description: English: This image, which was photographed in 2005 using a blue filter, depicted a close-up perspective of Mycobacterium cosmeticum bacterial colonies of strain LTA-388T, growing on Middlebrook 7H10 agar, which is used primarily in the isolation of mycobacteria, as well as for the antimicrobial susceptibility testing of these organisms. What's in a Name? When Dr. Robert Cooksey set out to name the new mycobacterial organism recovered from cosmetic patients and sites, he consulted several Latin dictionaries. He found the word "Oesypum" meant cosmetic, but other interpretations of the word described the term as "sheep sweat" (from which lanolin is derived), which he felt was not an appropriate word. Upon consulting IJSEM, the official journal that recognizes new species, he was advised to Latinize the English word "Cosmetic" - hence the organism was named M. cosmeticum. Dr. Cooksey, a 30 year microbiologist working with his research team in the CDC’s TB lab, discovered the M. cosmeticum bacterium, which can thrive in salons, healthcare and clinic settings. This species is the newest identifiable mycobacterial organism to thrive in these settings, joining other rapid growing species, Mycobacterium fortuitum, M. chelonae, and M. abscessus, that have been found in previous outbreaks. “We find these organisms are very persistent in the environment and can survive unusually harsh environmental conditions - for example, in biofilms", says Cooksey. "The antibiotic therapy can go on for many months or even years. It very often requires an incision to remove the abscess. The person winds up getting disfigured, so the end result is the opposite of what the patient went in originally for - a more attractive body.". Date: 2005. Source: : This media comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Public Health Image Library (PHIL), with identification number #7888. Note: Not all PHIL images are public domain; be sure to check copyright status and credit authors and content providers. English | Slovenščina | +/−. Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Optigan13. Author: Photo Credit: James Gathany Content Providers(s): CDC/ CDC Connects. Permission(Reusing this file): English: None - This image is in the public domain and thus free of any copyright restrictions. As a matter of courtesy we request that the content provider be credited and notified in any public or private usage of this image.