Mycobacterium senegalense-associated wound infection after lumbar spinal surgery: a case report

Mycobacterium senegalense is a rapidly growing nontuberculous mycobacterium of the M. fortuitum group. We describe a 54-year-old immunocompetent man with an afebrile lumbar surgical-wound infection after instrumented L1 schwannoma resection. Two independently collected deep-incisional wound swabs yielded isolates identified as M. senegalense by MALDI-TOF MS without molecular confirmation. CRP was mildly elevated (25 mg/L), whereas ESR was normal (10 mm/h). With hardware retained, limited debridement, wound care, and multidrug therapy achieved clinical and MRI resolution at 22 months after surgery, despite oral therapy stopping after 11 weeks, before the planned six-month course, because of a morbilliform rash.