Nontuberculous mycobacterial lung infections in patients with eating disorders: plausible mechanistic links in a case series.

Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are widely distributed in the environment and are almost always acquired into the lungs by bioaerosol inhalation or aspiration of NTM-contaminated water, biofilms, and soil. NTM are increasingly recognized as causes of lung diseases in immunocompetent hosts, a not insignificant number of whom have a life-long or nearly life-long slender body habitus as well as thoracic cage abnormalities such as scoliosis and pectus excavatum. While several hypotheses have been offered to explain the purported increase in susceptibility to NTM lung disease in such individuals, the precise explanation remains unknown.