MTBC lineage 5 is M. africanum type 1, West African 1 (MAF1), and is classified based on a characteristic deletion of Region of Differentiation (RD) 711.

[4] M. africanum was first described as a subspecies within the MTBC, with phenotypic characteristics intermediate between M. tuberculosis and M. bovis, based on biochemical testing by Castets in 1968.

Unlike M. tuberculosis, M. africanum shows catalase activity, is nitrate negative, and is susceptible to thiopene-2-carboxylic acid hydrazide (TCH) and pyrazinamide (PZA).

[8] Phylogenetic evidence shows that M. africanum branched at an early stage from modern Mtb lineages in America, Europe and Asia.

In countries where M. africanum is endemic, it represents an important opportunistic infection of the later stages of HIV disease.

[13] Because of the similar symptoms and different growth conditions between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and africanum, culture methods are unreliable for diagnosis.

In particular, "spoligotyping" or "spacer oligonucleotide typing", is a rapid polymerase chain reaction-based method for genotyping strains in the MTBC.