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The Rapidly Growing Mycobacteria— Mycobacterium fortuitum and Mycobacterium chelonei

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Timothy H. Brown
Timothy H. Brown*
Affiliation:
Veterans Administration Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee
*
Fort Hamilton Hughes, Memorial Hospital Center, 630 Eaton Avenue, Hamilton, OH 45013
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Extract

Recent clinical experience has added Mycobacterium fortuitum and Mycobacterium chelonei to the expanding list of nosocomial pathogens. These rapidly growing mycobacteria were first isolated 80 years ago from frogs (M. fortuitum) and sea turtles (M. chelonei). Obtained occasionally from human sources as early as 1904, they were generally regarded as commensals in man. Friedmann was so convinced of the non-pathogenicity of M. chelonei that he introduced the “turtle vaccine” as a means of preventing and treating tuberculosis. Contemporary medical literature firmly establishes these organisms as human pathogens with particular importance in nosocomial infections.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 6 , Issue 7 , July 1985 , pp. 283 - 288
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1985

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