title: Resistant tuberculosis in Maranhão, Brazil: a case series.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Mycobacterium tuberculosis multidrug resistance, especially against rifampicin and isoniazid, places pulmonary tuberculosis in the list of emerging diseases. The misuse of therapeutic regimens is one of its main predisposing factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four clinical cases (three were brown and one black) with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, treated in a reference hospital in the state of Maranhão, Brazil, were reported to evaluate the importance of radiological framework on disease evolution.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The clinical framework showed a bad evolution and drug resistance, while radiology showed lung lesions, ranging from exudative infiltrates to lung parenchyma disintegration.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Parasitic Biology, University CEUMA, São Luís, MA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Kenia Regina Oliveira
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Maia
authors.affiliation: Nucleus of Basic and Applied Immunology, Department of Pathology, Federal University of Maranhão, São Luís, MA, Brazil. gracaviana@globo.com.
authors.forename: Graça Maria
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: de Castro Viana
authors.affiliation: Medicine School, Federal University of Maranhão, Scientific Scholarship of CNPq, São Luís, MA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcos Antonio Custódio Neto
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Adult and Child Health, Nucleus of Basic and Applied Immunology, Department of Pathology, Federal University of Maranhão, São Luís, MA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria do Desterro
authors.initials: Mdo D
authors.lastname: Soares Brandão Nascimento
authors.affiliation: Medicine School, Federal University of Maranhão, São Luís, MA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Victor Lima
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: de Souza
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Parasitic Biology, University CEUMA, São Luís, MA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Silvio Gomes
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Monteiro
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018088:Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant / Q000453:epidemiology*
keywords: Anti-tuberculosis drugs; Resistance; Tuberculosis