DualM. kansasiiinfection in one household: a reconsideration of our understanding of transmission routes

Abstract

Mycobacterium kansasiiis one of the the most common non-tuberculous mycobacteria responsible for opportunistic human infection. UnlikeM. tuberculosis, transmission remains poorly understood; spread is assumed to be from a shared geographical source, such as domestic plumbing, and human-to-human transmission is generally not considered by clinicians when evaluating patients and their environments. We describeM. kansasiiinfection in a husband and wife in the same household and in the same period, suggesting, in these cases, that transmission occurred directly from one patient to the other. This possibility of human-to-human transmission may inform a clinician’s scrutiny of risks to household contacts in cases ofM. kansasiiinfection.