A cluster of Mycobacterium gordonae isolates from bronchoscopy specimens.
During a 2.5-year period, 52 patients at Yale-New Haven Hospital had Mycobacterium gordonae recovered from specimens obtained by suction at bronchoscopy; 2 of them also had smears positive for acid-fast bacilli. Almost all of the isolates came from patients bronchoscoped by the same physician, one of 4 who performed the procedure during that period. Only this physician added one drop of green dye, stored in a 100-ml bottle, to the cocaine used for topical anesthesia during the procedure; cultures of the dye yielded Mycobacterium gordonae. Contamination with this organism, a cause of positive acid-fast smears, may result in an initial inappropriate diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
D000287:Administration, Topical; D000772:Anesthesia, Local / Q000592:standards*; D001980:Bronchi / Q000382:microbiology*; D001999:Bronchoscopy; D003042:Cocaine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000592:standards*; D004396:Coloring Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000592:standards*; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D004340:Drug Contamination; D006801:Humans; D009161:Mycobacterium / Q000302:isolation & purification; D009164:Mycobacterium Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D009165:Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D009170:Nontuberculous Mycobacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology
D004396:Coloring Agents; D003042:Cocaine