Manifestations cutanéomuqueuses des mycobactéries environnementales (dont Mycobacterium ulcerans)

Mycobacterium refers to more than sixty species of which only one quarter is pathogenic; a dozen of species have cutaneous expressions. Environmental (ex-atypical) mycobacteria contract accidentally in the natural surroundings, contrary with the inter-human transmitted mycobacteria which are tuberculosis and leprosy. In France, Mycobacterium marinum-induced lesions of the aquarists are the most frequently reported model of contamination of the immunocompetent subject. In tropical area, Mycobacterium ulcerans infections constitute a real emergent disease for the WHO. Immunodeficiency, in particular that associated with AIDS, supports the generalized forms of mycobacterial diseases, generally related to the Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex. Since the development of the tritherapy and cytokines, the frequency of such environmental mycobacteria-induced infections has decreased.