Mycobacterium marinum infection following contact with reptiles: vivarium granuloma.

Abstract

A 19-year-old man presented with a 1.5-cm nodule on the first dorsal metacarpal ray. The patient denied having contact with fish tanks or fish, but recalled handling many reptiles without gloves in the vivarium where he worked. A culture of a skin biopsy specimen yielded Mycobacterium marinum. The clinical outcome was favourable after a 2-week course of intramuscular gentamicin (180 mg daily) combined with a 6-week course of oral clarithromycin (500 mg twice a day). Doctors should be aware that vivariums, in addition to fish tanks, can be sources of M. marinum exposure.

• Authors: Mehdi Bouricha, Bernard Castan, Elisabeth Duchene-Parisi, Michel Drancourt
• Journal: International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases (Int J Infect Dis) Vol. 21 Pg. 17-8 (Apr 2014) ISSN: 1878-3511 [Electronic] Canada
• PMID: 24530276 (Publication Type: Case Reports, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Chemical References

• Anti-Bacterial Agents
• Gentamicins
• Clarithromycin

Topics

• Animals
• Anti-Bacterial Agents (therapeutic use)
• Clarithromycin (therapeutic use)
• Gentamicins (therapeutic use)
• Humans
• Male
• Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous (diagnosis, drug therapy, microbiology, transmission)
• Mycobacterium marinum (drug effects, isolation & purification, pathogenicity, physiology)
• Reptiles (microbiology)
• Skin (microbiology)
• Skin Diseases, Bacterial (diagnosis, drug therapy, microbiology, transmission)
• Young Adult