Postsurgical wound infections due to rapidly growing mycobacteria in Swiss medical tourists following cosmetic surgery in Latin America between 2012 and 2014

F P Maurer; C Castelberg; A von Braun; A Wolfensberger; G V Bloemberg; E C Böttger; A Somoskovi

doi:10.2807/1560-7917.ES2014.19.37.20905

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Postsurgical wound infections due to rapidly growing mycobacteria in Swiss medical tourists following cosmetic surgery in Latin America between 2012 and 2014

F P Maurer^1,2, C Castelberg¹, A von Braun³, A Wolfensberger³, G V Bloemberg¹, E C Böttger^1,2, A Somoskovi^1,2
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Affiliations: ¹ Institute for Medical Microbiology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland ² National Reference Centre for Mycobacteria, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland ³ Division for Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Correspondence:
F Maurer
florian.maurer imm.uzh.ch
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Citation style for this article: Maurer F P, Castelberg C, von Braun A, Wolfensberger A, Bloemberg G V, Böttger E C, Somoskovi A. Postsurgical wound infections due to rapidly growing mycobacteria in Swiss medical tourists following cosmetic surgery in Latin America between 2012 and 2014. Euro Surveill. 2014;19(37):pii=20905. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES2014.19.37.20905 Received: 29 Aug 2014

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Abstract

Between October 2012 and August 2014, several Swiss patients developed severe soft tissue infections due to rapidly growing mycobacteria following cosmetic surgery in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Mexico. Infections were caused by Mycobacterium abscessus (n=5), Mycobacterium sp. JAN1 (n=1) and M. conceptionense (n=1). Similar cases may have remained unrecognised due to a lack of notification requirements. Microbiological work-up of medical tourists with infections following cosmetic surgery should include rapidly growing mycobacteria.