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New to MAC and considering treatments options: What did you do?

MAC & Bronchiectasis | Last Active: Nov 19, 2023 | Replies (190)
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@cwal

Not yet. I have an appt next Thursday.

A sensitivity testing would indicate which antibiotic would work best or does it indicate which particular "species" of the many different MACs I have?

I will ask for a colony count if one was not done! I suppose it's not too late to request and obtain that result? I don't know if there is a time limiting factor on the specimen for that. If there was enough to grow out on a culture plate is that an indication there was a lot of bacteria present?

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Replies to "Not yet. I have an appt next Thursday. A sensitivity testing would indicate which antibiotic would..."
Sue, Volunteer Mentor | @sueinmn | Sep 9, 2022

The sensitivity test indicates which antibiotics your specific infection is sensitive to. I just learned in a conference this afternoon that the genetic variations number over a thousand, so some strains of the same bacteria can be susceptible to an antibiotic, whereas it's close cousin may be resistant.
Colony counts must be done during the culture process. Some labs simply label none, few, many ... others use more quantitative measures.

Please be assured that watching and waiting, especially if you have few or no symptoms, is a common practice with MAC/NTM, especially if you have had only one positive culture.

So, you have a week to read, here and elsewhere, about this infection and formulate questions for your doc.
I will be interested in hearing what the result of you visit is.
Sue

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