A red herring colonization of <i>Mycobacterium lentiflavum</i> in cutaneous sporotrichosis lesions misleading the diagnosis

A 42-year-old man presented with a sporotrichoid lymphocutaneous infection for 1 month. The histopathology of the lesions showed numerous intracellular mycobacteria within foamy histiocytes suggestive of nontuberculous mycobacteria and misled the empiric treatment. The final culture grew Sporothrix spp. and the lesions improved with antifungal treatment alone. This case report depicts a case of Mycobacterium lentiflavum colonization in cutaneous sporotrichosis lesions on histopathology to raise awareness among physicians about this rare coincidence that could mislead the diagnosis.