BACKGROUND Mycobacterium avium complex is common in water. When aerosolized, it is frequently inhaled but rarely causes illness in healthy people. Hypersensitivity pneumonitis to inhaled aerosols has been described; these aerosols are from several sources of water. The pneumonitis forms are collectively known as humidifier lung; the responsible agent in the water remains uncertain. PURPOSE To...

Introduction: Non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), most commonly Mycobacterium avium Complex (MAC), cause certain clinically known syndromes in immunocompetent and immunodeficient patients. Case Report: The patient’s clinical setting illustrates an unusual and fatal manifestation of NTM, a left lung necrotizing-cavitating pneumonia in an immunosuppressed host. Conclusion: Severe necrotizing pneu...

BACKGROUND A prospective observational study was done to describe nonbacterial pulmonary complications in hospitalized patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. METHODS The study included 1,225 consecutive hospital admissions of 599 HIV-infected patients treated from April 1995 through March 1998. Data included demographics, risk factors for HIV infection, Acute Physiology a...

Mycobacterium avium complex-serotype 6 was isolated in pure culture on blood agar plates from inocula taken from the heart blood, lungs, liver, kidneys, and spleen of a naturally infected captive female opossum (Didelphis marsupialis virginiana). Repeat cultures from stored tissues and transfer of colonies from original blood agar plates revealed that the mycobacterium grew on tryptose, brillia...

A 69 yr old female was hospitalized for further examination of abnormal shadows on chest radiographs. She had a history of tuberculous pleurisy, rheumatoid arthritis and gold-induced interstitial pneumonia. On admission she still suffered from rheumatoid arthritis. A chest computed tomography scan on admission showed clusters of small nodules in subpleural regions of both lungs combined with br...