Isolation of acid-fast organisms from milk and oysters.

Raw and pasteurized milk, as well as oysters collected from approved growing areas, were cultured for the presence of acid-fast organisms. Mycobacteria and nocardia were isolated from 68.8% of the raw milks, but none from the 43 pasteurized specimens. The 66 isolations were identified as follows: one M. marinum, two M. scrofulaceum, nine M. gordonae, seven M. flavescens, nine M. avium---M. intracellulare complex, 18 M. terrae complex, 12 M. fortuitum, six M. "parafortuitum" complex, and two Nocardia asteroides. From nine pooled samples of oysters 15 mycobacterial strains were cultured. These strains were identified as follows: three M. scrofulaceum, five M. gordonae, two M. avium--M. intracellulare complex, two M. terrae complex and three M. "parafortuitum" complex.