Cutaneous Infection with Atypical Mycobacterium

Human infection caused by atypical Mycobacteria (that is, acid-fast bacilli other than the usual human, bovine, and avian tubercle bacillus and the bacillus of leprosy) is not common. Such atypical acid-fast infections, in fact, are more commonly pulmonary than cutaneous.1Observation of a primary skin infection caused by an atypical Mycobacterium prompts this report. Report of Case The patient, a 39-year-old white woman, was first seen Nov. 27, 1957, 2 days after she had been kicked in the upper mid-portion of the left thigh by a cow. Examination revealed a large hematoma. No active treatment was deemed necessary. When the patient returned Dec. 16, 1957, an abscess was present at the site of the previous hematoma. It was treated by incision and drainage, and oral tetracycline. Examination on Dec. 22 suggested that the infection had been cured. The patient returned Jan. 10, 1958, with 3 tender, inflammatory, fluctuant, subcutaneous