Mycobacterium szulgai infections case series

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Mycobacterium szulgai infections - a case series from England and Wales

• IRAS ID

  191826

• Contact name

  Alicia Yeap

• Contact email

  alicia.yeap@nhs.net

• Sponsor organisation

  Public Health England

• Duration of Study in the UK

  0 years, 6 months, 1 days

• Research summary

  Little is known about Mycobacterium szulgai infections as they are rare. Infections in the lung mimicking tuberculosis have been described, as have infections in other parts of the body such as the skin and the eye. Current guidelines suggest treatment regimens comprising multiple antibiotics for long periods of time but optimal treatment has yet to be defined - it is unclear as to which antibiotics should be used and how long for, how effective different combinations may be and what side effects result from treatment. Information about the clinical features and treatment of previous cases would be valuable in guiding clinicians in diagnosing and managing future cases.
  
  Specialist tests are required to identify M. szulgai and are routinely performed by the National Mycobacterium Reference Laboratory (NMRL) for NHS hospitals in England and Wales. Unlike many other bacteria, these organisms are unlikely to signify contamination of patient samples when detected as they are rarely isolated from the environment.

  We propose to retrospectively collect and analyse data on clinical features of infection, microbiological characteristics of the causative organism, treatment regimens used and treatment outcomes for all patients from whom NMRL has identified Mycobacterium szulgai in the last five years, using NMRL’s database to identify these patients. We will contact the patients’ clinicians and ask them to fill in questionnaires from patients' medical records. We will collect data on symptoms, radiological test results, microbiological test results, type and duration of drugs used for treatment, side effects of treatment, signs of clinical resolution or improvement, mortality and relapse. We do not intend to gather additional data which have not already been obtained for the purposes of clinical care. All data will be kept under conditions of strict confidentiality and anonymised when reported.

• REC name

  West of Scotland REC 5

• REC reference

  16/WS/0032

• Date of REC Opinion

  27 Jan 2016

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion