Mycobacterium kansasii infection in a patient with AIDS.

We have presented the case of a 45-year-old HIV-positive man who had a 2-week history of shortness of breath and fever and who was found to have pneumonia due to an acid-fast bacillus. Despite treatment with isoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol, and clofazimine, he died of the infection. Culture results obtained after his death showed the organism to be Mycobacterium kansasii. Mycobacterial infections are common in patients with AIDS, but are usually due to M tuberculosis or M avium complex. Of the 35 patients with AIDS and M kansasii infection mentioned in the literature, only eight of these were described; and of the four patients (including our patient) who received therapy considered appropriate for this infection, only two survived.