Cause Analysis of an Infection in Facelift Surgery Due to Mycobacterium chelonae

Abstract

We report a post-facelift infection due to Mycobacterium chelonae. An environmental strain recovered from the water supply network of the surgical clinic and the clinical strains were considered non-differentiable using whole genome sequencing. After the unhealed wound's exposure to M. chelonae while showering early at the clinic after surgery, a lasting exposure of the colonized wound to the warm and moist working conditions of a bakery may have been favorable to the infection's development.

Whole Genome Sequencing in the Management of Non-Tuberculous Mycobacterial Infections

“…Surgical site infection by M. chimaera may also occur, predominantly in patients after plastic surgery. WGS showed the genetic relatedness of isolates from patients and the samples of tap water at the surgical clinic, therefore exposure of the wound to any non-sterile water should be totally forbidden before complete wound healing [114]. Insufficient sterilization of surgical instruments and water has been suggested as a source of M. chimaera in many other studies, highlighting the utility of WGS in clinical practice [115,116].…”