Is the gut a reservoir of non-tuberculous mycobacteria in people with cystic fibrosis?

Jennifer Hudson; Nicole Taylor; Michael J. Coffey; B.L.D. Uthpala Pushpakumara; Bernadette Prentice; Adam Jaffe; Simone Visser; Sheila Sivam; Andrew S. Day; Mark Oliver; Sarath Ranganathan; Hiran Selvadurai; Claire Wainwright; Chee Y. Ooi; Josie van Dorst

doi:10.1016/j.jcf.2026.06.001

Is the gut a reservoir of non-tuberculous mycobacteria in people with cystic fibrosis?

Jennifer Hudson, Nicole Taylor, Michael J. Coffey, B.L.D. Uthpala Pushpakumara, Bernadette Prentice, Adam Jaffe, Simone Visser, Sheila Sivam, Andrew S. Day, Mark Oliver, …

Journal of cystic fibrosis, Vol.25(5), pp.767-770

05/06/2026

: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcf.2026.06.001

https://hdl.handle.net/10523/51410

Cystic fibrosis

Gut microbiome

Gut-lung axis

Nontuberculous mycobacteria

Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) represent a significant disease burden in the cystic fibrosis (CF) population. Whilst the acquisition of NTM to the respiratory tract is predominantly attributed to environmental exposures, the contribution of the gut-lung axis to NTM pulmonary disease remains poorly understood. In this study, we retrospectively examined 1285 stool microbiomes from 121 children and 52 adults with CF, and 135 healthy control (HC) children, in order to assess the prevalence, abundance and clinical significance of NTM in the gut. We detected various species of low clinical concern in the stool of 2% of people with CF and 1% of HC sampled, with longitudinal sampling revealing their occurrence to be sporadic and transient. Of the participants studied, only 11 had a history of prior clinical NTM respiratory colonisation or infection, but there was limited evidence to support ongoing persistence in the intestinal tract. This study suggests that the gut is not a meaningful reservoir for pulmonary NTM infections and it is unlikely to serve as a transmission route within the CF population.

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcf.2026.06.001

Published (Version of record)

: 9926877241201891
: Is the gut a reservoir of non-tuberculous mycobacteria in people with cystic fibrosis?
: Jennifer Hudson
Nicole Taylor
Michael J. Coffey
B.L.D. Uthpala Pushpakumara
Bernadette Prentice
Adam Jaffe
Simone Visser
Sheila Sivam
Andrew S. Day
Mark Oliver
Sarath Ranganathan
Hiran Selvadurai
Claire Wainwright
Chee Y. Ooi
Josie van Dorst
: Paediatrics and Child Health (UOC)
: Journal of cystic fibrosis, Vol.25(5), pp.767-770
: Elsevier
: 05/06/2026
: Refer to article for funding information
: Copyright © The Author(s) 2026. This work was first published in Journal of Cystic Fibrosis (Elsevier). This is an open access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided that the original work is properly attributed to the creator(s) and the source, a link to the Creative Commons license is provided, and any changes made are indicated.
: English
: Journal article