[Idiopathic disseminated infection by BCG or atypical mycobacteria]

Disseminated Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) infection following vaccination with live BCG may occur in children without any well-defined immune deficiency. Children with unexplained disseminated infection due to environmental non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) have also been reported. Several lines of evidence suggested that such idiopathic BCG and NTM infections may represent different complications of the same autosomal recessive inherited immune disorder. Accordingly, gamma-interferon receptor deficiency was recently identified in three kindreds with NTM and BCG disseminated infection. This article reports the current knowledge on idiopathic BCG or NTM disseminated infections, and the underlying inherited immune deficiencies.