Isolated tuberculous liver abscess in immunocompetent children - report of two cases.

Isolated tuberculous liver abscess (TLA) without active pulmonary or miliary tuberculosis, or other clinical evidence of tuberculosis, is distinctly rare and only few cases have been reported in the literature. We report two cases of isolated TLA in immunocompetent children, treated successfully by percutaneous aspiration followed by systemic antituberculous drugs.

Tuberculous liver abscess in an immunocompetent adult male--a rare presentation.

A 20 year old young male was admitted to our hospital with complaints of pain in upper abdomen right side, anorexia and loss of weight. Ultrasonography of the upper abdomen revealed a hypoechoic area in the left lobe of liver. Entertaining the possibility of pyogenic or amoebic lesion, the patient was started on ofloxacin and metronidazole. Failing to get any response to the therapeutic intervention, ultrasound guided aspiration was undertaken. The aspirated pus did not grow any organism in pyogenic or fungal culture but showed acid fast bacilli in Z.N. stain. The treatment was shifted to four drugs ATT and there was dramatic improvement in the clinical condition. This case is being reported to emphasize that ruling out tuberculosis may avoid unnecessary delays in the initiation of specific anti-tubercular treatment. Also a greater awareness of this rare clinical condition may prevent unwarranted surgical intervention.

The clinical spectrum of patients with deficiency of Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription-1.

STAT-1 (Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription-1) is a key signaling component of interferon gamma responses. We present long-term manifestations in siblings with a mutation in the STAT1 gene, which include invasive salmonellosis, recurrent severe respiratory syncytial virus pneumonitis, and hepatosplenic mycobacterial disease, and we summarize all other reported cases with STAT-1 deficiency.

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor of the liver due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis in an immunocompetent girl.

The case of a 9-year-old girl with a Mycobacterium tuberculosis inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) of the left lobe of the liver is reported. The tumor was surgically excised and had histological features diagnostic of IMT, a positive Ziehl-Nielsen staining for acid-fast bacilli and a positive polymerase chain reaction for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Surgical excision of the tumor followed by anti-tuberculosis treatment for 9 months resulted in full recovery. The patient had no apparent immune disorder, and there was no evidence of extrahepatic tuberculosis. These findings make this case exceptional because IMTs, due mostly to atypical mycobacteria, have been described only in immunocompromised patients.

Clinical spectrum of hepatic tuberculosis: comparison between immunocompetent and immunocompromised hosts.

BACKGROUND: Hepatic tuberculosis has been reported in normal and immunocompromised hosts. However, no published comparisons between these two groups of subjects with hepatic tuberculosis have been found. The aim of this study was to compare the clinical manifestations, biochemical tests, radiologic features and pathological findings of hepatic tuberculosis in immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients. METHOD: The authors reviewed retrospectively 20 patients with hepatic tuberculosis admitted between January 1993 and October 2000 to Chulalongkorn University Hospital, Thailand. There were 12 immunocompromised patients (10 HIV-infected males, 1 systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) male, 1 SLE female) and 8 immunocompetent patients (6 males, 2 females). The clinical manifestations, biochemical tests, radiologic features and pathological findings were compared between these 2 groups. The diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) was the combination of a demonstrated organism in hemo- or specimen culture, histopathology (positive acid fast bacilli) and rapid identification of M. tb from nested polymerase chain reaction (nPCR) assay based on amplification of the IS 6110 insertion sequences. RESULTS: The clinical features were similar in both groups with fever, weight loss and hepatomegaly as the main manifestations. The biochemical findings were also similar but the alkaline phosphatase (ALP) was significantly higher in the immunocompromised group (p < 0.001). Hepatomegaly and diffuse increased echogenicity were common in both groups. Ascitis and calcifications were found more commonly in the immunocompetent subjects, although the differences were not statistically significant. Non-caseating granuloma without detection of acid fast bacilli was a common finding in both groups. The nested PCR assay increased the sensitivity from 49 per cent to 86 per cent compared to the regular PCR assay but specificity was 100 per cent in both techniques. The mortality was significantly higher in immunocompetent patients (p < 0.05) due to the extreme age and severe coexisting diseases. CONCLUSION: Fever, weight loss, hepatomegaly, disproportionate elevation of ALP and reverse A/G ratio were common in hepatic tuberculosis. A disproportionate elevation of ALP was significantly higher in the immunocompromised hosts. Nested PCR assay showed good sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of this disease.

NOS2-derived nitric oxide regulates the size, quantity and quality of granuloma formation in Mycobacterium avium-infected mice without affecting bacterial loads.

Granuloma formation in response to mycobacterial infections is associated with increased expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (NOS2) within granuloma macrophages and increased levels of nitrate/nitrite in the sera of infected mice. Continuous treatment with 5 mm or 10 mm l-N6-(1-imino-ethyl)-lysine (L-NIL), a selective NOS2-inhibitor, in acidified drinking water for up to 7 weeks consistently reduced infection-induced nitrate/nitrite to background levels in mycobacteria-infected BALB/c mice. Oral treatment with 5 mm L-NIL initiated at the time of infection significantly exacerbated growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but had no effect on Mycobacterium avium colony-forming unit development in the liver, spleen and lungs of intravenously infected mice. In order to examine the role of nitric oxide in mycobacteria-induced granulomatous inflammation in the absence of any effect on the bacterial load, M. avium-infected mice were treated with 5 mm L-NIL from day 1 through 38 and the development of granulomatous lesions in the liver was assessed by histology, immunohistology and reverse-transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Computer- and video-assisted morphometry performed at 4 and 7 weeks post-infection showed that treatment with L-NIL led to markedly increased number, cellularity and size of granulomatous lesions in infected mice regardless of the virulence of the M. avium isolate used for infection. Immunohistology of the liver revealed that in mice treated with L-NIL, the numbers of CD3+ T cells, CD21/35+ B cells, CD11b+ macrophages and RB6-8C5+ granulocytes associated with granulomatous lesions was increased. RT-PCR of the liver showed that in L-NIL-treated mice infected with M. avium, mRNA levels of tumour necrosis factor, interleukin-12p40, interferon-gamma, interleukin-10 and interferon-gamma-inducible protein-10 (IP-10) were up-regulated, while mRNA levels of interleukin-4, monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) and MCP-5 were similar to those in untreated control infected mice. When M. avium-infected mice were treated with 5 mm L-NIL between the 5th and 12th weeks of infection, similar changes in granuloma number and size were found in the absence of any effect on the bacterial load. These findings demonstrate that nitric oxide regulates the number, size and cellular composition of M. avium-induced granulomas independently of antibacterial effects by modulating the cytokine profile within infected tissues.

[The value of mycobacteria serology in the diagnosis of tubercular hepatitis]. / Apport de la sérologie mycobactérie au diagnostic des hépatites tuberculeuses.

The causes of granulomatous hepatitis are often difficult to determine and standard diagnosis methods for tuberculous hepatitis lack sensitivity, which led us to evaluate the contribution of mycobacteria serology. The case is reported of a woman in whom a diagnosis of extrapulmonary sarcoidosis had been made on two occasions (1985, 1987) in the presence of granulomatous hepatitis. Liver histology remained identical in 1991 but the existence of positive mycobacteria serology led to the start of antituberculous treatment. The satisfactory response in terms of clinical, laboratory and histological findings confirmed this diagnostic hypothesis. When search for the etiology of granulomatous hepatitis proves negative, positive mycobacteria serology is sufficient to justify specific antituberculous treatment.

[The tubercular process and antitubercular immunity in mice of different ages]. / Tuberkuleznyi protsess i protivotuberkuleznyi immunitet u myshei raznogo vozrasta.

Experiments on "young" and "old" mice (aged, respectively, 2-4 and 22-24 months) infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, strain Bovinus-8, have revealed that in old mice the tuberculous process progresses at a faster rate than in "young" mice, which is manifested in "old" mice by their earlier death, more pronounced lesion of their internal organs and by a greater number of Mycobacterium colonies harvested after the inoculation of samples taken from their organs (after equal periods of incubation). In the process of the development of tuberculosis most immunity parameters are progressively suppressed, this suppression being more pronounced in the old animals and leading to a decrease in antibody-dependent cell cytotoxicity, the number of natural killer cells, the reaction of lymphocyte blast-transformation on PPD, cytotoxic effect on PPD-coated red blood cells, the synthesis of interleukin-1 and interleukin-2 after incubation with PPD, the titer of antituberculosis antibodies.