Abstract: Mycobacterium abscessus complex (MABC) is one of the most common fast-growing mycobacteria in nontuberculosis mycobacterial diseases. Drug resistance to most of the antituberculosis drugs makes its clinical teratment very difficult. There are great differences in the sensitivity of the three subspecies of MABC to a variety of antibiotics. The accurate typing and identification of the three subspecies in clinical laboratory is of great value for the selection of therapeutic drugs. The tuberculosis branch of Chinese Medicine Association has formulated the guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of nontuberculosis mycobacterial disease (2020 Edition), MABC susceptibility test should be carried out according to the standard of mycobacterium susceptibility test from Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) of the United States (2018 Edition). It is suggested that multidrug combination therapy should be selected according to the results of drug sensitivity test. In order to provide reference for related research, this paper reviewed the progress of drug sensitivity test of MABC and its resistance mechanism to main therapeutic drugs.

Key words: nontuberculous mycobacteria, microbial sensitivity tests, drug resistance, bacterial, anti-bacterial agents, Mycobacterium abscessus complex