Value of the chlorhexidine decontamination method for recovery of nontuberculous mycobacteria from sputum samples of patients with cystic fibrosis

The chlorhexidine method was compared to the N-acetyl-L-cysteine-NaOH-oxalic acid decontamination method currently recommended for the recovery of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) from patients with cystic fibrosis. Sputum samples (n = 827) treated with chlorhexidine yielded twice as many NTM-positive cultures as those treated by the reference method (54 [6.50%] versus 27 (3.25%]; P < 0.0001) despite a higher contamination rate (20% versus 14.2%; P = 0.0017).