{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,2]],"date-time":"2026-07-02T12:50:52Z","timestamp":1782996652595,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,30]],"date-time":"2025-10-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1761782400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Med."],"abstract":"<jats:p>\n                    <jats:italic>Mycobacterium colombiense<\/jats:italic>\n                    , a rare slow-growing mycobacterium within the\n                    <jats:italic>Mycobacterium avium complex<\/jats:italic>\n                    (MAC), causes disseminated disease almost exclusively in immunocompromised hosts, with no prior reports of localized pulmonary infection in non-immunosuppressed individuals. A 47-year-old non-immunosuppressed male with bronchiectasis presented with progressive cough, night sweats, and fatigue. Computed tomography (CT) revealed bronchiectasis with nodules in the right middle and lower lobes. Empirical \u03b2-lactam therapy failed, and conventional bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) tests (smears, cultures, PCR) yielded no pathogens at 48 h. Although metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) of BALF detected a low number of\n                    <jats:italic>M. colombiense<\/jats:italic>\n                    sequences (eight reads), definitive confirmation was achieved through extended culture, which is considered the gold standard for the diagnosis of nontuberculous mycobacteria. This culture revealed acid-fast bacilli within 12 days (160 CFU), confirming the presence of viable\n                    <jats:italic>M. colombiense<\/jats:italic>\n                    . Subsequent mNGS of the isolated colonies further confirmed the species identity with high sequence reads (25,787 reads). Guideline-based triple therapy (guided by drug susceptibility testing and guidelines) with clarithromycin, rifampicin, and ethambutol achieved significant radiographic resolution at 24 weeks. This case demonstrates that\n                    <jats:italic>M. colombiense<\/jats:italic>\n                    pulmonary infection is diagnostically elusive and mimics non-specific respiratory syndromes. It defines the clinical features of this pathogen in non-immunosuppressed hosts and highlights the need for heightened surveillance for nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) in bronchiectasis patients, given the likelihood of underdiagnosis.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmed.2025.1671968","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,30]],"date-time":"2025-10-30T06:22:18Z","timestamp":1761805338000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Case Report: First pulmonary infection caused by Mycobacterium colombiense in a non-immunosuppressed host with bronchiectasis: diagnosis facilitated by synergistic mNGS and 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