Two cases of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome with disseminated non-tuberculous mycobacterial infection

Abstract

Two cases of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) with disseminated non-tuberculous mycobacterial infection are reported. Both patients had hemophilia and were infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 (HIV) by antihemophilic factor infusion. In case 1, a 44-year-old male, Mycobacterium marinum, which ordinarily causes cutaneous infection, was isolated from sputum before death and from the lung, spleen, bone marrow, liver and lymph node at autopsy. This is the first report of disseminated M. marinum infection with AIDS. In case 2, a 25-year-old male, Mycobacterium avium complex, which is the most common strain in non-tuberculous mycobacterial infection among patients with HIV, was isolated from the lung by TBLB and at autopsy from the lung, liver, spleen, bone marrow, lymph node, stomach, small intestine and testis. He also had a giant intraabdominal lymphadenopathy, associated with the M. avium complex infiltration. In conclusion, non-tuberculous mycobacteria can be easily disseminated in patients with AIDS because of dysfunction of cellular immunity, even when their primary lesions are not severe.