Abstract: Objective To investigate the clinical feature, diagnosis and treatment of disseminated infection due to rapidly growing mycobcteria (RGM). Methods Analysis was made upon a case of disseminated infection due to RGM. Results This 49 years old male patient had no underlying diseases. He presented with fever, chronic bilateral cervical lymphadenopathy and reactive skin manifestations. The lymph node biopsy specimen was culture-positive for RGM which was identified as Mycobacterium chelonae/abscessus by gene chip assay. Disseminated RGM infection was diagnosed. This patient was treated with clarithromycin, levofloxacin, ethambutol (12 months), amoxicillin-clavulanate (3 months) and imipenem (4 weeks) for 18 months. He was really doing well while follow up after discontinuation of treatment for 3 months. Conclusions Disseminated RGM infection is a rare disease,often presents with fever, multiple draining subcutaneous nodules or abscesses, lymphadenopathy and organs involvement. Isolation of the organism on culture of blood, aspirated material, or tissue biopsy is the key to diagnosing the specific RGM infection.

Key words: Rapidly growing mycobacteria, diagnosis, treatment