BACKGROUND: Atypical wound pathogens may be so described because they are uncommon pathogens of soft tissue among human beings, or because they may be fastidious and difficult to recover/isolate in the laboratory. METHODS: A review of pertinent English-language literature was performed. RESULTS: These wound pathogens are a diverse lot, including aerobic and anaerobic gram-positive and gram-negative bacilli, non-tuberculous mycobacteria, and bacteria that cannot be characterized conventionally because they lack a cell wall (the Mycoplasmataceae). They are diverse with respect to their virulence, but many are opportunistic pathogens. CONCLUSIONS: Among these atypical pathogens, clinical reports are most common of wound infections caused by Mycoplasma/Ureaplasma (sometimes as co-infecting agents), and the so-called rapidly growing non-tuberculous mycobacteria (Runyon Type IV; e.g., M. chelonae).
