[Mycobacterium xenopi: epidemiological and bacteriological features]

Abstract

Mycobacterium xenopi is a scotochromogenic slow-growing atypical mycobacteria, with a thermostable catalase, no production of niacin and whose cell wall contains types I and VI long-chain fatty acids. Cosmopolitan, it is mainly recovered in tap-warm water. The contamination occurs through aerosol inhalation, water ingestion or use of contaminated medical or surgical equipment. M. xenopi is an opportunistic pathogen; the infection is facilitated by the incidental introduction of the bacteria in the body, pre-existing pulmonary lesions and an immunodepression. M. xenopi is mainly involved in infections of lungs, bones and joints. The treatment consists in the combination of three or four antibiotics, among rifampicin, rifabutin, ethambutol, macrolides, amikacin and fluoroquinolones.