Identification of spore-forming bacteria isolated from contaminated Lowenstein Jensen media and effectiveness of Vancomycin to reduce Mycobacterial culture contamination in Burkina-Faso

The type of commensal microorganisms can influence the efficiency of sputum decontamination for TB diagnosis. A basic characterization of contaminants from LJ contaminated media showed that Gram positive Spore Forming Bacteria (SFB) were the major contaminants. This study aims to identify the species of this contaminants and to evaluate the effectiveness of VCNT at 10 µg of vancomycin to reduce mycobacterial culture contamination mainly linked to SFB. Fifty-three SFB isolated between February 2016 and May 2017 were used. The effectiveness of LJ with VCNT at 10 µg of Vancomycin were evaluated with sputum collected in the same period. SFB had been stored at −20 °C and identified after subculture onto 5% sheep blood Columbia agar and incubated at 37 °C during 24 h. Bacteria cells and isolated colonies were described. API 50CH/B was performed and MALDI-TOF MS was used for external quality control. Thirty- five (66%) isolates representing 4 genera (Bacillus, Paenibacillus, Brevisbacillus and Lysinibacillus) including 10 species were identified. The most important species were Bacillus cereus (30%) and Bacillus licheniformis (21%). Eighteen (34%) isolates were non-reactive Bacillus. The overall contamination rate on LJ with VCNT at 10 µg of vancomycin was statistically lower than which without VCNT (18.7% versus 43.8%) (p = 0.01). The most important SFB identified were B. cereus and B. licheniformis. Almost all identified strains were similar to those currently isolated in fermented traditional food suggesting in part food related contaminants. VCNT containing 10 µg of vancomycin is a good alternative method to reduce mycobacterial culture contamination.