IDIOPATHIC DISSEMINATED BCG OR NONTUBERCULOUS MYCOBACTERIA INFECTIONS

Disseminated Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) infection following vaccina tion with live BCG may occur in children without any well-defined immu ne deficiency. Children with unexplained disseminated infection due to environmental non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) have also been repor ted. Several lines of evidence suggested that such idiopathic BCG and NTM infections may represent different complications of the same autos omal recessive inherited immune disorder. Accordingly, gamma-interfero n receptor deficiency was recently identified in three kindreds with N TM and BCG disseminated infection. This article reports the current kn owledge on idiopathic BCG or NTM disseminated infections, and the unde rlying inherited immune deficiencies.