“…It occurs in a range of 15 to 40% of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected patients in developed countries and 95% of the isolates are represented by M. avium (Inderlied et al 1993). However, in developing countries such as Brazil, this opportunistic infection was not considered a major problem for Aids patients until recently, when it was demonstrated that MAC infection are beginning to emerge associated with Aids (Barreto et al 1993, Landgraf at al. 1994, Fandinho at al.…”