INFECTION WITH MYCOBACTERIUM-MALMOENSE IN SWEDEN - REPORT OF 221 CASES

Mycobacterium malmoense was first described in 1977 and today is secon d only to the Mycobacterium avium complex as a cause of atypical mycob acterial infection in Sweden. We retrospectively studied the records o f 221 patients from whom M. malmoense was isolated during 1968-1989. M . malmoense was recovered from the respiratory tract of 171 patients ( 170 adults and one child) and from cervical lymph nodes of 36 patients (35 children and one adult). In addition, the organism was isolated f rom the urine of six patients, one of whom had disseminated disease an d two of whom had abscesses caused by M. malmoense. A majority of the patients with pulmonary infection as well as the patient with dissemin ated disease had other underlying diseases.