Pulmonary mycobacteriosis caused by Mycobacterium xenopi. Report of a case

M. xenopi was definitely demonstrated 14 times in the sputum of a 70-year-old man with chronic obstructive lung disease. Sputum conversion was achieved by combined chemotherapy, but the patient died of cor pulmonale and associated terminal pneumonia. Autopsy revealed moderately advanced old fibrotic pulmonary lesions of tuberculous origin including a large "open healed" cavity, and recent involvement of lymphatic nodules with a bronchonodular fistula accompanied by dispersed lesions in the surrounding pulmonary tissue. Culture of the latter lesions yielded M. xenopi and were formed by central necrosis with numerous acid-fast rods surrounded by a hyaline capsule without any specific or nonspecific inflammation. No histological differences were detected between these lesions and lesions from a disease provoked by M. tuberculosis.