Diagnostic and therapeutic consideration in patients with pulmonary disease due to the rapidly growing mycobacteria.

Little is known of the clinical picture or natural history of patients with Mycobacterium fortuitum or Mycobacterium chelonae lung disease. The current author has spent almost 10 years studying these organisms and is in a unique position to study this group of patients. This is the first published attempt to characterize these patients and their disease, and provides a better understanding of what is the rarest but most difficult to treat of the environmental mycobacterial lung disease.