Mycobacterium /mī′kōbaktir″ē·əm/ [Gk, mykes + bakterion, small rod] , a genus of rod-shaped acid-fast bacteria having two significant pathogenic species: Mycobacterium leprae, which causes leprosy, and M. tuberculosis, which causes tuberculosis. M. avium complex or M. avium-intracellulare disseminated infection may occur in AIDS and cause cervical adenitis in children and pulmonary disease in immunodeficient patients.
