Boston health officials are investigating several reports of severe infections in patients who traveled to the Dominican Republic for cosmetic surgery.
At least two patients in Boston, and another in Worcester, are believed to have been infected with Mycobacterium abscessus, bacteria that are not easily battled with antibiotics and can take months of treatment to vanquish.
The patients were part of a group that went to the Dominican Republic during the summer for surgeries and started having health problems earlier this fall, including abscesses and drainage from their surgery sites, said Dr. Anita Barry, director of the infectious disease bureau at the Boston Public Health Commission.
