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Case Reports: Unusual association of diseases/symptoms
Dual M. kansasii infection in one household: a reconsideration of our understanding of transmission routes
  1. Samuel John Moody1,
  2. Leann Johnson1 and
  3. Thomas Moody2
  1. 1Infectious Diseases, North Manchester General Hospital, Manchester, UK
  2. 2School of Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Samuel John Moody; samuel.moody{at}mft.nhs.uk

Abstract

Mycobacterium kansasii is one of the the most common non-tuberculous mycobacteria responsible for opportunistic human infection. Unlike M. tuberculosis, transmission remains poorly understood; spread is assumed to be from a shared geographical source, such as domestic plumbing, and human-to-human transmission is generally not considered by clinicians when evaluating patients and their environments. We describe M. kansasii infection in a husband and wife in the same household and in the same period, suggesting, in these cases, that transmission occurred directly from one patient to the other. This possibility of human-to-human transmission may inform a clinician’s scrutiny of risks to household contacts in cases of M. kansasii infection.

  • TB and other respiratory infections
  • infectious diseases
  • respiratory medicine

http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2022-254448

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors The following authors were responsible for drafting of the text, sourcing and editing of clinical images, investigation results, drawing original diagrams and algorithms and critical revision for important intellectual content: SJM, LJ and TM. LJ gave final approval of the manuscript.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Case reports provide a valuable learning resource for the scientific community and can indicate areas of interest for future research. They should not be used in isolation to guide treatment choices or public health policy.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.