Acupuncture Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Acupuncture, including details on alternative medicine, uses, benefits, treatment, chinese medicine.

Iatrogenic Mycobacterium abscessus infection associated with acupuncture: clinical manifestations and its treatment.

Ryu HJ, Kim WJ, Oh CH, Song HJ

Department of Dermatology and Internal Medicine, Korea University Medical Center, Seoul, South Korea.

BACKGROUND: Mycobacterial infections transmitted by acupuncture are an emerging problem. There have been two reports of mycobacterial infections complicating acupuncture in the English literature. AIM: To describe the clinical manifestations and treatment of patients who acquired localized Mycobacterium abscessus infection in the process of acupuncture. METHODS: Clinical manifestations and responses to different methods of treatment were reviewed in 40 patients who developed various skin lesions after acupuncture at a Korean oriental medicine clinic. Results The morphology of the lesions which developed at the acupuncture sites varied. Although the lesions disappeared with the combined administration of clarithromycin and amikacin for 3 months in most cases, five out of 25 patients (20%) showed residual lesions at the end of treatment, and had to be treated with a higher dosage of clarithromycin or alternative antibiotics based on sensitivity tests. CONCLUSIONS: We recommend at least 3 months of treatment with clarithromycin for treating skin infections caused by M. abscessus, with supplementary antibiotics selected based on patients' drug sensitivity tests.

Published 6 October 2005 in Int J Dermatol, 44(10): 846-50.
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