Disseminated Mycobacterium terrae infection in a patient with advanced human immunodeficiency virus disease

Mycobacterium terrae has been rarely implicated in human disease and never in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). We describe a n HIV-infected patient with disseminated infection by M. terrae with pulmon ary and cutaneous clinical manifestations. M. terrae was isolated from both sputum and urine, and identified by both conventional tests and high-perfo rmance liquid chromatography. Clinical and microbiological characteristics of this case are compared with those reported in the literature.