Fatal outcome of disseminated Mycobacterium avium infection in childhood. A case of primary incompetent monocyte/macrophage function?

ABSTRACT

Disseminated BCG infection rarely heals, and disseminated disease caused by the Mycobacterium avium complex usually has a poor prognosis with a short time to death. The case of a boy who died after 9 years of diagnosed disseminated M. avium complex infection is described. He showed no signs of previously known immunodeficiency except an incompetent primary monocyte/macrophage function. This case has been commented on in Acta Paediatrica Scandinavia (1982) as "the first infant to survive a generalized BCG infection".