Atypical mycobacterias associated to acupuncuture: an integrative review

Abstract

Well-established control practices for infection prevention should be implemented and adapted for complementary and alternative medicine.

Safety of Acupuncture: Overview of Systematic Reviews

“…Seven (41.2%) reviews included only case reports, and the rest (10, 58.8%) included multiple study designs, including randomized or non-randomized clinical trials, cohort studies, case-control studies, cross-sectional studies, and case series. One review (5.9%) focused only on auricular acupuncture and related auricular therapies 6 , one (5.9%) focused only on electro-acupuncture 7 , six (35.3%) focused only on needle acupuncture 8–13 , three (17.6%) did not limit the type of acupuncture or related intervention that were included 14–16 , and the remaining six (35.3%) included two or more modalities, including needle acupuncture, electro-acupuncture, cupping, moxibustion, laser acupuncture, indwelling needles, dry needling, bee venom acupuncture, acupuncture point injection, and acupressure 17–22 . Four reviews (23.5%) included studies from China only 7, 10, 17, 19 , one (5.9%) included studies from the United States only 8 , one (5.9%) included studies from Norway only 13 , one (5.9%) included studies from Japan only 12 , and one (5.9%) included studies from the UK only 11 .…”

“…A median of 17 infections were reported amongst 11 reviews 6, 9, 10, 12–14, 16–19, 22 . A median of 0.5 deaths was reported, but 5 reviews did not report any data on outcomes 6, 9, 12–14 .…”

“…A median of 0.5 deaths was reported, but 5 reviews did not report any data on outcomes 6, 9, 12–14 . The most common infections that occurred in patients included hepatitis (3 reviews 12, 13, 16 , median, 94, 1 death in total), abscesses (4 reviews 10, 12, 17, 22 , median, 7), tetanus (3 reviews 10, 17, 19 , median, 6, median number of deaths, 3), auricular infections (3 reviews 9, 13, 16 , median, 9), septic arthritis (2 reviews 9, 22 , median, 4), local infections (2 reviews 6, 19 , median, 7.5), Mycobacterial infection (2 reviews 9, 22 , median, 244), Staphylococcal infection (1 review 18 , 29 cases).…”

“…A major limitation of the presented information was that no causality could be determined. In the reviews that commented on the scientific quality of included studies, concern was raised regarding the ability to ascertain that acupuncture resulted in the adverse outcome 8, 10, 11, 14, 22 . One review classified reported cases on a causality scale, and only a minority of adverse events were classified as certainly caused by acupuncture 19 .…”

Adverse events associated with acupuncture: a clinicopathologic review

“…avium complex , and M . haemophilus infection associated with acupuncture have also been reported . In the present study, five cases were suspected to involve atypical mycobacterial infection based on their clinical manifestations and pathological findings.…”