Drug-resistant tuberculosis in two children in Greece: report of the first extensively drug-resistant case

Eur J Pediatr. 2013 Apr;172(4):563-7. doi: 10.1007/s00431-012-1811-8. Epub 2012 Aug 21.

Abstract

Extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis (TB) represents a serious and growing problem in both endemic and non-endemic countries. We describe a 2.5-year-old girl with XDR-pulmonary TB and an 18-month-old boy with pre-XDR-central nervous system TB. Patients received individualized treatment with second-line anti-TB agents based on genotypic and phenotypic drug susceptibility testing results. Both children achieved culture conversion 3 months and 1 month after treatment initiation, respectively. The child with XDR-pulmonary TB showed evidence of cure while treatment adverse events were managed without treatment interruption. The child with pre-XDR-central nervous system TB after 6-month hospitalization with multiple infectious complications had a dismal end due to hepatic insufficiency possibly related to anti-TB treatment. This is the first report of children with pre-XDR and XDR TB in Greece, emphasizing the public health dimensions and management complexity of XDR TB.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Antitubercular Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Child, Preschool
  • Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis / diagnosis*
  • Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis / drug therapy
  • Fatal Outcome
  • Female
  • Greece
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Male
  • Tuberculosis, Central Nervous System / drug therapy*
  • Tuberculosis, Central Nervous System / immunology
  • Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / drug therapy*
  • Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / immunology

Substances

  • Antitubercular Agents