Mycobacterium
A large family of bacteria that have unusually waxy cell walls that are resistant to digestion.</P> The mycobacteria includes: > >Mycobacterium avium -- which causes tuberculosis in birds and immunodeficient people; >Mycobacterium leprae -- which causes leprosy; >Mycobacterium marinum -- which causes swimming pool granuloma; >Mycobacterium tuberculosis -- which causes most cases of tuberculosis; and >Mycobacterium ulcerans -- which causes Buruli ulcer.
</LI></UL> The mycobacteria are acid-fast rod-shaped bacteria.
They are usually slow-growing.
Many are intracellular parasites.