1. Pulmonary Infection Caused by Mycobacterium terrae: A Case Report and Literature Review
- Author
-
Salim Surani, Melanie Duran, Abhay Vakil, Alan Araiza, and Joseph Varon
- Subjects
nontuberculous mycobacteria ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Pulmonology ,medicine.drug_class ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Antibiotics ,Pulmonary infection ,Infectious Disease ,pulmonary infection ,030204 cardiovascular system & hematology ,03 medical and health sciences ,Pneumonectomy ,0302 clinical medicine ,Internal medicine ,medicine ,Internal Medicine ,biology ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,business.industry ,General Engineering ,biology.organism_classification ,Bronchoalveolar lavage ,Specimen collection ,atypical ,Nontuberculous mycobacteria ,Differential diagnosis ,business ,mycobacterium terrae ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Mycobacterium terrae - Abstract
Mycobacterium terrae infection can cause progressive debilitating disease. A case of a 63-year-old man with localized pulmonary infection characterized by extensive, thick-walled cavitary lesions is presented. A pneumonectomy was considered as definitive treatment, but the patient would not have tolerated the procedure given his severe deconditioning. Instead, he was placed on lifelong antibiotic treatment, but he continued to deteriorate and passed away. The slow-growing microorganism, Mycobacterium terrae, was isolated from bronchoalveolar lavage cultures seven weeks after specimen collection, five and a half weeks after the patient’s death. Clinical, microbiological and therapeutic data from this case and 16 other pulmonary cases from the literature are reviewed. Increased awareness of this microorganism will allow clinicians to consider Mycobacterium terrae in their differential diagnosis when dealing with nontuberculous mycobacteria infections.
- Published
- 2019