 The strain wasn't recognised as a distinct species until 1992, however, when DNA hybridisation work identified it as genetically distinct from its relative, "M. chelonae".The genome of the type train was published in 2009.ATCC 19977 = CCUG 20993 = CIP 104536 = DSM 44196 = JCM 13569 = NCTC 13031

From the Latin ab- (“away”) + cedere (“to go”), an abscess is named for the notion that humors leave the body through pus.