Middle-aged to elderly women have a higher asymptomatic infection rate with Mycobacterium avium complex, regardless of body habitus.

Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) pulmonary disease is prevalent in middle-aged to elderly women with a thin body habitus. By comparing the rate of serologically diagnosed asymptomatic MAC infection and body mass index among 1033 healthy subjects, we find that middle-aged to elderly women became infected with MAC, regardless of their body habitus.

Recurrence of disseminated Mycobacterium avium complex disease in a patient with anti-gamma interferon autoantibodies by reinfection.

We report a case of recurrent disseminated Mycobacterium avium complex (DMAC) disease with anti-gamma interferon autoantibodies. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case caused by reinfection with a separate isolate of M. avium. DMAC disease activity was monitored using serum IgG antibody titers against lipid antigens extracted from a MAC strain.