Tuberculous Bronchiolitis

To the Editor: In his discussion of Case 6-1996, which involved Mycobacterium avium bronchiolitis, Murphy (Feb. 22 issue) 1 mentions that he is not aware of a reported case of M. avium complex infection in a patient without predisposing factors, chronic lung disease, or immunodeficiency. We have reported the case of a 32-year-old woman with disseminated M. avium infection who was not infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and who did not have primary or acquired immunodeficiency. 2 We believe that the patient discussed by Murphy should be evaluated for an underlying disease, such as hairy-cell leukemia or Hodgkin's disease, because . . .