Non-tuberculous slow-growing mycobacterium found in dust, dirt, fresh and salt water, birds, pigs, sheep, cattle, milk and eggs.
The term "non-tuberculous mycobacterioses", or "NTM" for short, is used to refer to diseases caused by infections with non-tuberculous mycobacteria. This is a heterogeneous group of more than 190 environmental mycobacteria characterized by a wide diversity in terms of their occurrence and adaptations to environmental conditions. Their relationship to the obligate pathogenic mycobacterial species of tuberculosis and leprosy is reflected in the antipodal naming "non-tuberculous mycobacteria".