ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To review the clinical, diagnostic, therapeutic and prognostic characteristics of cutaneous diseases caused by atypical mycobacteria and more specifically those by Mycobacterium chelonae. To improve our knowledge of this disease and its differential diagnosis with other cutaneous infections associated with folliculitis. DESIGN: Retrospective descriptive study. SETTING: Primary care and Dermatology specialty in a Health Center in the Madrid metropolitan area. PATIENTS AND OTHER PARTICIPANTS: The clinical records of non immunosuppressed patients, with multiple cutaneous lesions caused by Mycobacterium chelonae and confirmed by culture were reviewed. The evolution time, treatment regimes before diagnosis and possible epidemiological factors were studied. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN OUTCOMES: Culture confirmed three non immunosuppressed patients with multiple lesions in both legs. Lesions had been present for longer than two months and had been treated with topical and systemic antibiotics with no improvement. The only relevant epidemiological finding was wax depilation. CONCLUSIONS: It is important to know the existence of this type of infection, since diagnostic suspicion allows for an early and efficient therapy which will present the emergency of important scars.
