Atypical mycobacteria causing non-pulmonary disease in Queensland

During the period 1971--7, the Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory in Queensland dealt with 52 isolates of atypical mycobacteria made from non-pulmonary sites under circumstances suggesting complicity in disease. Twenty-four isolates belonging to the MAIS complex were associated with lymph node infections in children. Twelve isolates belonged to the M. fortuitum-chelonei complex; most were from superficial abscesses. Five cases of M. marinum infection and 8 of M. ulcerans disease were detected.