A Case of Lung Disease and Vertebral Osteomyelitis Due to Nontuberculous Mycobacteria in a Kidney Transplant Recipient / 대한내과학회지

ABSTRACT

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) infections in kidney transplant recipients (KTR) are rare. We describe here a 52-year-old female with vertebral osteomyelitis caused by NTM, who received a kidney transplant 5 years earlier. She had been diagnosed with NTM lung disease 1 year prior. NTM therapy was delayed due to esophageal candidiasis. Mycobacterium intracellulare was isolated from sputum and bone tissue. The pattern of drug-susceptibility testing in both specimens was identical. NTM vertebral osteomyelitis due to direct inoculation is rare, and was in this case a disseminated NTM disease. The subjective symptoms resolved after 4 months of NTM treatment. This suggests that early NTM treatment is important for KTRs who have NTM disease during immunosuppressive therapy.