Disseminated nontuberculous mycobacterial infections in immunosuppressed patients.

In summary, DNTM is an uncommon cause of infection in non-AIDS immunocompromised patients, but it is seen with increasing frequency as a late complication in AIDS patients who are severely debilitated. Non-AIDS patients may have pulmonary symptoms and parenchymal abnormalities on chest radiographs. These patients apparently may have clinically significant pulmonary infection. In contrast, AIDS patients with DNTM are unlikely to have clinically significant pulmonary disease. Although the lung is a common site of infection in these patients, they usually do not have pulmonary symptoms related to NTMB infection. Chest radiographs in these patients may show hilar or mediastinal adenopathy and/or pleural effusion. It is uncertain whether the parenchymal infiltrates noted in these patients are caused by NTMB or by coexisting processes. It is suspected that pulmonary NTMB in the AIDS patient is not likely to produce pulmonary parenchymal abnormalities on the chest radiograph.