Impact of anti-tuberculosis therapy on plasma zinc status in childhood tuberculosis

This study compared plasma zinc levels in 15 children with active pulmonary tuberculosis, 15 malnourished children and 15 healthy children. Mean plasma zinc concentrations in children with tuberculosis [71.7 microg/dL] were not significantly different than the other 2 groups [72.5 and 76.9 microg/dL]. The zinc status of the children with tuberculosis was evaluated after 2 months and 4 months of DOTS therapy. The serum zinc level during anti-tuberculosis therapy decreased after 1 month and then recovered to the initial level after 4 months of treatment

Primary and acquired drug resistance in childhood tuberculosis

This study determined the resistance pattern of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to 4 first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs in children with pulmonary tuberculosis at the Iranian National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases from 1999 to 2004. There were 350 children with positive cultures over the study period: 7 [2%] were resistant to at least one of the 4 anti-tuberculosis drugs. Primary resistance was detected in 4 cases and secondary resistance in 3 cases. Most cases [6] were among Afghan refugees. Resistance to rifampicin both in primary and secondary resistances was high, showing that children in the Islamic Republic of Iran face the threat of drug-resistant tuberculosis transmission