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M. avium and M. intracellulare are difficult to distinguish by means of biochemical tests and by means of numerical taxonomy. DNA-DNA hybridization confirms that these species are different but indicates that some serovars of M. intracellulare actually belong to the species M.avium, viz.: serovars 4, 5, 6 and 8. This corresponds to results obtained with sensitin tests on guinea-pigs. The status of strains belonging to serovar 9 is uncertain. The two strains investigated in this study were closely related to, but not identical with M. scrofulaceum serovar 41.
I. Baess (Thu,) studied this question.