Notes from the Field: Potential Outbreak of Extrapulmonary Mycobacterium abscessus subspecies massiliense Infections from Stem Cell Treatment Clinics in Mexico — Arizona and Colorado, 2022

• DOI: 10.15585/mmwr.mm7318a3
• Publication Date: 2024-05-09T14:15:32Z
• Authors: Minh-Vu H. Nguyen; Nabeeh A. Hasan; Vinicius Calado N...; L. Elaine Epperson; Christopher A. Czaja; Helen Johnston; Nicholas Laramee; Kelsey Orten; JulieAnna Rivas; Siru Prasai; Marissa K. Grossman; Kiran M. Perkins; David E. Griffith; Reeti Khare; Michael Strong; Charles L. Daley
• Keywords: Mycobacterium abscessus; Subspecies

Mycobacterium abscessus is an intrinsically drug-resistant, rapidly growing, nontuberculous mycobacterium; extrapulmonary infections have been reported in association with medical tourism (1).During November-December 2022, two Colorado hospitals (hospitals A and B) treated patient A, a woman aged 30-39 years, for M. meningitis.In October she had received intrathecal donor embryonic stem cell injections Baja California, Mexico to treat multiple sclerosis subsequently experienced headaches fevers, consistent meningitis.Her cerebrospinal fluid revealed neutrophilic pleocytosis grew culture at hospital A. Hospital A's physicians consulted B's infectious diseases (ID) co-manage this (2).In spring 2023, ID identified additional patients acquired after receiving performed different clinics Mexico.The first of these, B, Arizona man 60-69 developed right elbow osteoarticular infection psoriatic arthritis clinic from the one that April 2022.The second, C, bilateral knee both knees osteoarthritis Guadalajara, Mexico, 2022.