FATAL DISSEMINATED MYCOBACTERIUM-SMEGMATIS INFECTION IN A CHILD WITH INHERITED INTERFERON-GAMMA RECEPTOR DEFICIENCY

Mycobacterium smegmatis is a common environmental mycobacterium that w as first identified in 1884, yet is a rare pathogen in humans. The few AL smegmatis infections reported to date have been localized and have occurred in association with a primary lesion in otherwise immunocomp etent individuals. To our knowledge, no case of disseminated ai. smegm atis infection has ever been reported, even in patients with severe im mune deficiencies. We report a case of disseminated mycobacterial infe ction that was diagnosed in a 3-year-old girl, The pathogen was not id entified as M. smegmatis until the patient was 6 years old. Her condit ion gradually worsened, and she died when she was 8 years old despite appropriate antimycobacterial therapy. No other opportunistic infectio ns were documented, Immunological investigations revealed an inherited interferon gamma receptor I deficiency. This report identifies d. sme gmatis as a new opportunistic agent that may be responsible for dissem inated disease in immunocompromised individuals.