Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Infections in Solid Organ Transplantation

Abstract

With the availability of advanced microbiologic techniques for the detection and identification of nontuberculosis mycobacteria (NTM) over the last 10 years, the number of NTM species has swelled to over 125 (1). Over half of these have the potential to cause human disease, but fewer than two dozen account for most reported cases. Due to impaired cell-mediated immunity, transplant recipients are susceptible to infection with these organisms. There are no prospective studies or registries of these infections, so our understanding of these infections in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients comes from case reports and a few case series (2–7).