Summary

We present the case of a 57-year-old male with poor prognosis (trisomy 21 and monosomy 7) acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) who presented with rigors and fever during cytogenetic remission. Peripheral and central line blood cultures were positive for Mycobacterium chelonae and he commenced empiric treatment with meropenem, amikacin, clarithromycin and ciprofloxacin. It appears that M chelonae infection was responsible for persistent myelosuppression after expected recovery from chemotherapy, which subsequently precluded optimum treatment for AML.