noun
- A genus of rod-shaped bacteria, some species of which cause serious infectious diseases in humans and animals, including tuberculosis and leprosy.
Usage: technical; microbiology; usually capitalized when referring to the genus
Examples
- Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis.
- The laboratory identified mycobacterium in the patient's sputum sample.
- Mycobacterium leprae causes leprosy, a chronic infectious disease.
- Researchers are developing new drugs to combat drug-resistant mycobacterium strains.
- The slow growth rate of mycobacterium makes diagnosis challenging.