Thirteen years of culture-positive M. bovis-BCG infection in an IL-12Rbeta1 deficient patient: treatment and outcome.

Patients with mutations in the IFNgamma/IL-12 pathway show an exquisite susceptibility to mycobacterial diseases. An IL-12Rbeta1 deficient patient with impaired intestinal absorption suffered from a 13 year culture-positive Mycobacterium bovis-BCG infection with acquired multidrug resistance. A combined parenteral and enteral anti-mycobacterial treatment, including recombinant IFNgamma, helped to clear his infection.

Multicenter study of MTT and resazurin assays for testing susceptibility to first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs.

OBJECTIVE: A multicentre evaluation was performed to assess two rapid low-cost methods, MTT (3-[4.5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2.5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) and resazurin assays, for testing the susceptibility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to the first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs rifampicin (RMP), isoniazid (INH), ethambutol (EMB) and streptomycin (SM). METHODS: Thirty coded M. tuberculosis strains were sent to seven laboratories located in Latin America, representing six countries. Each site performed the colorimetric assays, MTT and resazurin, blind for the first-line drugs RMP, INH, EMB and SM. The minimum inhibitory concentration results obtained were compared to the conventional proportion method on Lowenstein-Jensen medium. RESULTS: After establishing the breakpoint concentrations, excellent results were obtained for RMP, INH and EMB, with levels of specificity and sensitivity of between 96% and 99%. CONCLUSION: MTT and resazurin assays are promising, accessible new alternative methods for middle- and low-resource countries that need low-cost methods to perform rapid susceptibility testing of M. tuberculosis to key anti-tuberculosis drugs.

[The Mycobacteria Growth Indicator Tube (MGIT) is useful for anticipating the resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to rifampicin but not to isoniazid]. / El Mycobacteria Growth Indicator Tube (MGIT) es útil para anticipar la resistencia de Mycobacterium tuberculosis a rifampicina pero no a isoniacida.

A previously proposed MGIT protocol was assessed focussing on its reliability to test the mainstay antituberculous drugs. Isoniazid (H) (0.1 mg/l) and rifampin (R) (1 mg/l) were assayed against 109 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates affecting patients at high risk of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. All isolates were simultaneously tested on Löwenstein-Jensen medium by the proportion method considered the gold standard. MGIT readings were accomplished within 2 and 22 days after inoculation, at day 10, 93.4% of the tests were completed. Unsatisfactory to evaluate H activity, the assay misclassified 8.8% (5/57) H susceptible and 7.7% (4/52) H resistant isolates. Otherwise, it yielded correct results for all 60 R susceptible isolates and 93.9% (46/49) R resistant isolates. Properly backed-up by a conventional test and targeting high risk patients, the MGIT system proved to be a useful aid to anticipate most of resistance to R. Accuracy, cost and turnaround time were competitive compared with those of semi-automated culture-based or molecular methods.

El Mycobacteria Growth Indicator Tube (MGIT) es útil para anticipar la resistencia de Mycobacterium tuberculosis a rifampicina pero no a isoniacida / [The Mycobacteria Growth Indicator Tube (MGIT) is useful for anticipating the resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to rifampicin but not to isoniazid]

A previously proposed MGIT protocol was assessed focussing on its reliability to test the mainstay antituberculous drugs. Isoniazid (H) (0.1 mg/l) and rifampin (R) (1 mg/l) were assayed against 109 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates affecting patients at high risk of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. All isolates were simultaneously tested on L÷wenstein-Jensen medium by the proportion method considered the gold standard. MGIT readings were accomplished within 2 and 22 days after inoculation, at day 10, 93.4

of the tests were completed. Unsatisfactory to evaluate H activity, the assay misclassified 8.8

(5/57) H susceptible and 7.7

(4/52) H resistant isolates. Otherwise, it yielded correct results for all 60 R susceptible isolates and 93.9

(46/49) R resistant isolates. Properly backed-up by a conventional test and targeting high risk patients, the MGIT system proved to be a useful aid to anticipate most of resistance to R. Accuracy, cost and turnaround time were competitive compared with those of semi-automated culture-based or molecular methods.

[Coxitis due to multidrug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in a HIV negative patient]. / Coxitis por Mycobacterium tuberculosis multirresistente en un paciente HIV negativo.

A case of an HIV negative female patient with coxofemoral arthritis of tuberculous etiology, multidrug-resistant strain, and connective tissue disease associated to glucocorticoid therapy is reported. The patient was treated with cycloserine, ethambutol, p-aminosalicylic acid and ofloxacin, with improvement of the joint lesions. Previous publications on this subject are reviewed.