1/1140. Pulmonary tuberculosis following successful treatment of pulmonary infection with mycobacterium kansasii. A case of pulmonary tuberculosis following successful treatment of pulmonary infection with mycobacterium kansasii is presented. The immunizing effect of an infection with M kansasii and and other nonspecific immune factors are discussed. ( info) |
2/1140. A train passenger with pulmonary tuberculosis: evidence of limited transmission during travel. In January 1996, smear- and culture-positive tuberculosis (TB) was diagnosed for a 22-year-old black man after he had traveled on two U.S. passenger trains (29.1 hours) and a bus (5.5 hours) over 2 days. To determine if transmission had occurred, passengers and crew were notified of the potential exposure and instructed to undergo a tuberculin skin test (TST). Of the 240 persons who completed screening, 4 (2%) had a documented TST conversion (increase in induration of > or = 10 mm between successive TSTs), 11 (5%) had a single positive TST (> or = 10 mm), and 225 (94%) had a negative TST (< 10 mm). For two persons who underwent conversion, no other risk factors for a conversion were identified other than exposure to the ill passenger during train and/or bus travel. These findings support limited transmission of mycobacterium tuberculosis from a potentially highly infectious passenger to other persons during extended train and bus travel. ( info) |
3/1140. Abnormal immunological response to mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens in a patient with chronic myelocytic leukemia and active tuberculosis. The pathogenic mechanisms of immunosuppression leading to susceptibility of mycobacterium tuberculosis (MT) infection in chronic myelocytic leukemia (CML) are not clear. To address this issue, we measured the proliferative response, variation of T cell subpopulations (CD4 , CD8 , TCR-V delta 2 and TCR-V beta 8 T cells) and the cytokine profile (IL-1 beta, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-alpha, IFN-gamma) after MT stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in a patient with concomitant CML and active pulmonary tuberculosis. The results were compared to four patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis and no other coexistent diseases. The immunologic response to phytohemagglutinin (PHA) was also evaluated. In contrast to controls, the CML PBMC failed to proliferate in response to MT antigens. Mycobacterium-reactive CD4 , V delta 2 and V beta 8 T cells did not expand after MT stimulation of the CML PBMC. In MT antigens-stimulated cultures from the CML patient, IL-2 was not produced and mild reduction of IL-1 beta and INF-gamma were observed. In contrast, IL-10 was markedly elevated in these cultures. Similarly, PHA-stimulated PBMC from the CML patient showed no expansion of CD4 and CD8 . T cells. In these cell cultures, INF-gamma concentration in supernatants was decreased and IL-10 was significantly elevated. This study suggests that patients with CML may present a profound immunosuppression of essential cellular and molecular immune effectors, a scenario which might contribute to the development of active tuberculosis. These findings further support the need of establishing immunotherapeutic modalities with potential value for myeloproliferative disorders. ( info) |
| A 46-year-old woman presented with shortness of breath and frequent lower respiratory tract infections. A ventilation-perfusion scan showed markedly reduced perfusion of the right lung, and pulmonary arteriogram showed stenosis of the right pulmonary artery. A right pneumonectomy revealed dense white fibrous bands partially occluding the pulmonary artery branches and two large abscess cavities filled with pus in the upper and lower lobes. Microscopic examination revealed extensive necrosis of lung parenchyma, suppurative granulomatous inflammation with coccidioides immitis organisms and rare acid-fast bacilli. pulmonary artery fibrous bands were originally believed to be congenital; however, they are now known to be sequelae of thromboembolic phenomena. ( info) |
| A case of pulmonary sporotrichosis is described with secondary involvement of the rectum which was misdiagnosed as tuberculosis for a number of years. The authors suggest that every nondiagnosed chronic cavitary disease in the lung should include appropriate tests for sporotrichosis. ( info) |
6/1140. Kala-azar in zambia: first report of two cases. Two autochthonous cases of kala-azar, the first such report of the disease from Central and Southern africa, are described. Both patients presented with generalized macules, papules and nodules without ulceration and both also had tuberculosis. Amastigotes were cultured from blood and identified in skin, bone marrow, liver and spleen. ( info) |
7/1140. Pulmonary miliary tuberculosis with multiple intracerebral tuberculous granulomas--report of two cases. Although intracerebral tuberculomas are common in countries where tuberculosis is still endemic, miliary tuberculosis with involvement of the central nervous system is exceptionally rare. We report two cases of pulmonary miliary tuberculosis with multiple intracerebral tuberculomas. ( info) |
8/1140. Identification of Mycobacterium shimoidei by molecular techniques: case report and summary of the literature. A 53-year-old woman from Melbourne, australia, with squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus was shown by computed tomography (CT) scan to have a left apical cavity and inflammatory changes in the right lung consistent with aspiration. Acid-fast bacilli isolated from bronchial washings were identified biochemically first as Mycobacterium terrae, but later as M. shimoidei on the basis of 1) restriction fragment analysis and 2) sequencing of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplified 16S rDNA. Nine other descriptions of patients with M. shimoidei isolates were collated. The salient feature of isolates considered to be pathogenic was pulmonary cavitation. Most patients had underlying lung disease, including past tuberculosis or malignancy. Six of eight patients died of progressive respiratory illness, although the contribution of M. shimoidei was not always clear, and two patients improved. One patient with the acquired immune-deficiency syndrome (AIDS) died with salmonella enteritidis and M. shimoidei isolated from blood cultures. One isolate was regarded as a coloniser. There are insufficient clinical or sensitivity data on which to base recommendations for therapy, but a combination of ethambutol, rifabutin and pyrazinamide could be considered. ( info) |
9/1140. Fulminant lethal tuberculous pneumonia (sepsis tuberculosis gravissima) with ARDS in a non-immunocompromised western European middle-aged man. We report the case of a 42 years old, non-immunocompromised native Austrian living in Vienna. He presented at home with severe dyspnea and had to be intubated immediately. Shortly after hospital admission, he developed severe adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and septic shock with massive, bilobar patchy to confluent infiltrations and a need for norepinephrine. A CT-scan revealed severe loss of functional lung tissue with areas of consolidation and multiple communicating cystic spaces. air leaking into the mediastinum through fistulas produced pneumomediastinum, pneumoperitoneum, and a massive soft tissue emphysema. bronchoalveolar lavage performed within the first 24 hours of admission revealed of acid-fast bacilli. Even though appropriate tuberculostatic medication was started immediately, the patient succumbed the next day to ARDS due to massive tuberculous pneumonia and miliary disease (sepsis tuberculosis gravissima). ( info) |
10/1140. Severe anorexia nervosa associated with osteoporotic-linked femural neck fracture and pulmonary tuberculosis: a case report. We report a case study of a 38-year-old woman who had been suffering from anorexia nervosa (AN) since the age of 26. Before admittance to our clinic, she weighed 23.8 kg (at a height of 164 cm, 8.8 body mass index [BMI]) but still carried out strenuous physical activities. After good psychotherapeutic response and weight gain (34.4 kg), she accidentally fell and broke her femoral neck-favored as it was by osteoporosis. The X-ray taken before dynamic hip screw implantation coincidentally showed signs of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), which could then be proven by computed tomography (CT) scans and cultures from a bronchoscopy. Other than lack of appetite and loss of weight, which we attributed to AN, there were no other clinical or biochemical indicators which could have pointed to an earlier TB diagnosis. As a result, the need for screening procedures is discussed. The manifestation of TB during the first weight gain after 12 years of severe malnutrition, during which there were no serious infections, seems to endorse former observations that AN patients appear to be "resistant" to some extent against infectious diseases, a "protection" which may be lost with convalescence and weight gain. ( info) |