CDC Identifies Drug-Resistant Infections in US Patients Who Traveled to Mexico for Stem Cell Treatments

Health experts with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are warning travelers considering medical tourism abroad of three cases of infections that they say are linked to stem-cell treatments in Mexico.

In its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published on May 9, the health agency described the infections of mycobacterium abscessus—a type of bacteria distantly related to the ones that cause tuberculosis and leprosy—as “difficult-to-treat” and “intrinsically drug-resistant.”

The health experts further noted that the infections—which can lead to symptoms including boils or pus-filled vesicles on the skin along with fever and muscle aches—are “rapidly growing.”

According to the CDC, three Americans became infected with mycobacterium abscessus, which has been known to contaminate medications and products, including medical devices, after receiving stem cell treatments in three cities across Baja California and Guadalajara, Mexico, in 2022 and 2023.

One of the individuals who became infected was a Colorado woman between 30 and 39 years old, the CDC said.

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