Mycobacterium heckeshornense Infection in HIV-infected Patient

摘要

To the Editor: Mycobacterium heckeshornense is a slow-growing scotochromogen phenotypically and phylogenetically related to M. xenopi. It was fi rst identifi ed as a cause of lung infection on the basis of unique 16s rRNA and 16S–23S spacer sequenc-ing (1). Published data are limited to the original description and 5 case reports in English-language literature (2–5). We report disseminated M. heckeshornense infection in an HIV-infected patient and document its role as an emerging pathogen.A man 40 years of age with dif-fuse large B-cell lymphoma had ad-vanced HIV infection and a CD4 count <10 cells/mm3. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) comprising abacavir/lamivu-dine and lopinavir/ritonavir was initi-ated. Ongoing night sweats and weight loss after chemotherapy prompted submission of blood cultures, which were positive for M. heckeshornense after 41 days' incubation