Drug-resistant tuberculosis in two children in Greece: report of the first extensively drug-resistant case.
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.
3rd Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Aspasia
A
Katragkou
Charalampos
C
Antachopoulos
Elpis
E
Hatziagorou
Maria
M
Sdougka
Emmanuel
E
Roilides
John
J
Tsanakas
D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D054908:Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D020306:Tuberculosis, Central Nervous System / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000276:immunology
D000995:Antitubercular Agents