We report a 46-year-old woman with disseminated Mycobacterium abscessus infection who was on maintenance haemodialysis for chronic glomerulonephritis. Prolonged blood cultures yielded growth of a rapid-growing nontubercular Mycobacterium. Diagnosis to a species level guided empirical therapy while we awaited antimicrobial susceptibility results. The patient was treated successfully with a multidrug regimen.