An increasing number of clinical isolations of rapidly growing mycobacteria (RGM) at the National Taiwan University Hospital were noted from 1992 to 2001. Broth microdilution MICs of 15 antimicrobial agents were determined for 200 clinical isolates of RGM, including the Mycobacterium fortuitum group (69 isolates), M. chelonae (39 isolates), and M. abscessus (92 isolates). Our results showed that the resistance rates of these isolates to the currently available agents were remarkably high. Amikacin was active against nearly all RGM isolates. Clarithromycin was usually active against M. abscessus (79% susceptibility) and the M. fortuitum group (65% susceptibility). The majority of M. fortuitum group isolates were susceptible to ciprofloxacin (62%) and imipenem (61%). The susceptibilities to other conventional anti-RGM agents of these isolates were poor but differed markedly by species. The newer fluoroquinolones (levofloxacin, moxifloxacin, and gatifloxacin) and meropenem showed better in vitro activities against the M. fortuitum group isolates than against the other two species of RGM. Linezolid had fairly good activity against these RGM isolates, particularly against M. chelonae isolates (82% susceptible). Telithromycin had poor activity against these RGM isolates (the MICs at which 50% of the isolates tested are inhibited [MIC 50 s] were 32 to 64 g/ml, and the MIC 90 s were >64 g/ml). (1,10,11,14,15,21,29). These organisms cause a variety of disseminated or localized diseases, particularly pulmonary infections as well as primary skin and soft tissue infections (1,7,21,22). Pseudo-outbreaks of infection due to these organisms caused by contaminated medical equipment have been reported (30, 31). These organisms are resistant to the conventional antituberculous agents, and their susceptibilities to other antimycobacterial agents varied with different members of this group of mycobacteria (4-6, 17, 18, 22-25, 27, 32). Some investigators have reported that in vitro susceptibilities to several of these agents correlated with clinical response to therapy (18,20). Furthermore, some recent in vitro susceptibility studies have demonstrated activity of newly developed antimicrobials (linezolid, telithromycin, tigecycline, and newer fluoroquinolones) against these organisms (3,8,26,28,32).With the increasing clinical importance of RGM responsible for clinical infections at the National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) and with an effort to identify potentially useful agents to treat these infections (9, 14, 30), we investigated the in vitro susceptibilities of recent RGM isolates to 15 antimicrobial agents, including those developed recently. MATERIALS AND METHODS Bacterial isolates.From January 1997 to June 2002, a total of 200 nonduplicate isolates (only one isolate per patient) of RGM, including 69 isolates of the M. fortuitum group, 92 of M. abscessus, and 39 of M. chelonae, that were recovered from various clinical samples were collected for the study (Table 1). These organisms were stored in Mueller-Hinton broth (B...

The majority of clinically diagnosed mycoplasma pneumonia was unconfirmed. Mycoplasma pneumoniae IgM has poor sensitivity and a positive predictive value. Interpretation of Mycoplasma pneumoniae IgM should be done with caution.

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In pediatric posttransplantation patients, CMV viremia mostly occurred within 100 days after transplantation. Risk factors associated with CMV viremia include older diagnostic age, leukemic patients, unrelated donor HSCT, pretransplant ATG use, GvHD, and gastrointestinal GvHD.