Korean J Clin Microbiol.  2004 Mar;7(1):84-89.

Five Cases of Mycobacterium abscessus

• Kim JH
• Choe WH
• Kang JO
• Choi TY

Abstract

Mycobacterium abscessus is one of the species of rapidly growing mycobacteria that is widely distributed in nature. Using PCR-RFLP method, we have isolated 5 cases of M. abscessus from the soft tissue, sputum and blood, and further investigated each patient's clinical courses and the results of the treatment. Three of the five patients had soft tissue infections, while the other two had pulmonary infections. Among the patients with soft tissue infections, two had a past history of steroid injection and the other had a trauma history. The clinical courses of these patients deteriorated quickly and they did not respond to the common anti-microbial antibiotics treatment. One of the two pulmonary infection patients, who had a past history of pulmonary tuberculosis and diabetes mellitus, had a more severe clinical course and difficulty on treatment than the patient who did not have a significant past history. M. abscessus can cause disseminated infection in immunocompromised patients and it most likely becomes resistant to antituberculous drug, therefore it is utmost necessary to perform rapid species identification and antibiotics susceptibility test.

Keyword

Mycobacterium abscessus; Polymerase chain reaction; Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism

MeSH Terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Diabetes Mellitus
Humans
Immunocompromised Host
Mycobacterium*
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length
Soft Tissue Infections
Sputum
Tuberculosis, Pulmonary
Anti-Bacterial Agents