Pulmonary Mycobacterium fortuitum Infection with Cervical Lymphadenitis in a Patient Carrying Autoantibodies to Interferon-γ

A 74-year-old woman was referred to our hospital for an evaluation of unidentified pneumonia. She gradually developed a high-grade fever with a growing infiltrative shadow on chest CT and an enlarging bilateral cervical mass. She was diagnosed with a pulmonary Mycobacterium fortuitum (M. fortuitum) infection with cervical lymphadenitis based on the results of an open biopsy of the cervical lymph node. While the patient's clinical condition resolved almost completely after treatment with multiple antibiotics, neutralizing autoantibodies to interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) were identified in her serum. The progression of disseminated M. fortuitum infection in immunocompetent patients may be affected by the presence of autoantibodies to IFN-gamma.