Extrapulmonary involvement in pediatric tuberculosis

Imaging recommendations and algorithms for pediatric tuberculosis: part 2-extrathoracic tuberculosis

Despite advances in diagnosis and treatment in recent years, tuberculosis (TB) remains a global health concern. Children are amongst the most vulnerable groups affected by this disease. Although TB primarily involves the lungs and mediastinal lymph nodes, it can affect virtually any organ system of the body. Along with clinical history combined with physical examination and laboratory tests, various medical imaging tools help establish the diagnosis. Medical imaging tests are also helpful for follow-up during therapy, to assess complications and exclude other underlying pathologies. This article aims to discuss the utility, strengths and limitations of medical imaging tools in the evaluation of suspected extrathoracic TB in the pediatric population. Imaging recommendations for the diagnosis will be presented along with practical and evidence-based imaging algorithms to serve as a guide for both radiologists and clinicians.

Imaging recommendations and algorithms for pediatric tuberculosis: part 1-thoracic tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a global health problem and is the second leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, behind the novel coronavirus disease of 2019. Children are amongst the most vulnerable groups affected by TB, and imaging manifestations are different in children when compared to adults. TB primarily involves the lungs and mediastinal lymph nodes. Clinical history, physical examination, laboratory examinations and various medical imaging tools are combined to establish the diagnosis. Even though chest radiography is the accepted initial radiological imaging modality for the evaluation of children with TB, this paper, the first of two parts, aims to discuss the advantages and limitations of the various medical imaging modalities and to provide recommendations on which is most appropriate for the initial diagnosis and assessment of possible complications of pulmonary TB in children. Practical, evidence-based imaging algorithms are also presented.

Childhood Tuberculosis in Mongolia: Trends and Estimates, 2010-2030

Mongolia was listed among the 30 countries with a high tuberculosis burden in 2021. Approximately 10-11% of the tuberculosis cases are of children, which is higher than the global average (6.0%). As children are a vulnerable population, it is important to understand the current situation and prioritize the development of tuberculosis prevention strategies. However, only few studies have addressed childhood tuberculosis in Mongolia. Therefore, we aimed to describe the characteristics of childhood tuberculosis and to show its trends and estimates in Mongolia. We performed descriptive and trend analyses on secondary data from the National Center for Communicable Diseases from 2010 to 2020. A total of 4,242 childhood tuberculosis cases, compiled from nine districts of the capital city and 21 provinces, were analyzed. We found that tuberculosis occurred more frequently in school-age children, and 71.8% of the all cases were an extrapulmonary tuberculosis. Trend analysis revealed that childhood tuberculosis continuously increased with fluctuations from 2018 onwards. The central region, including the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, is the most tuberculosis-burdened. Childhood tuberculosis is estimated to increase in the central region and decrease in the others from 2021 to 2030. Our findings showed that the national childhood tuberculosis trend is increasing, although there are differences in the pattern between regions. Further studies are needed to identify the determinant factors of regional differences, and age-specific public health interventions, such as scale-up screening and preventive treatment, are in demand in high-prevalence areas.

Evaluation of Host Protein Biomarkers by ELISA From Whole Lysed Peripheral Blood for Development of Diagnostic Tests for Active Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a significant global health crisis and the number one cause of death for an infectious disease. The health consequences in high-burden countries are significant. Barriers to TB control and eradication are in part caused by difficulties in diagnosis. Improvements in diagnosis are required for organisations like the World Health Organisation (WHO) to meet their ambitious target of reducing the incidence of TB by 50% by the year 2025, which has become hard to reach due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Development of new tests for TB are key priorities of the WHO, as defined in their 2014 report for target product profiles (TPPs). Rapid triage and biomarker-based confirmatory tests would greatly enhance the diagnostic capability for identifying and diagnosing TB-infected individuals. Protein-based test methods e.g. lateral flow devices (LFDs) have a significant advantage over other technologies with regard to assay turnaround time (minutes as opposed to hours) field-ability, ease of use by relatively untrained staff and without the need for supporting laboratory infrastructure. Here we evaluate the diagnostic performance of nine biomarkers from our previously published biomarker qPCR validation study; CALCOCO2, CD274, CD52, GBP1, IFIT3, IFITM3, SAMD9L, SNX10 and TMEM49, as protein targets assayed by ELISA. This preliminary evaluation study was conducted to quantify the level of biomarker protein expression across latent, extra-pulmonary or pulmonary TB groups and negative controls, collected across the UK and India, in whole lysed blood samples (WLB). We also investigated associative correlations between the biomarkers and assessed their suitability for ongoing diagnostic test development, using receiver operating characteristic/area under the curve (ROC) analyses, singly and in panel combinations. The top performing single biomarkers for pulmonary TB versus controls were CALCOCO2, SAMD9L, GBP1, IFITM3, IFIT3 and SNX10. TMEM49 was also significantly differentially expressed but downregulated in TB groups. CD52 expression was not highly differentially expressed across most of the groups but may provide additional patient stratification information and some limited use for incipient latent TB infection. These show therefore great potential for diagnostic test development either in minimal configuration panels for rapid triage or more complex formulations to capture the diversity of disease presentations.

Pediatric Osteoarticular Tuberculosis as a Diagnostic Dilemma and a Review of Literature

Introduction

Despite tuberculosis being rampant in the Indian subcontinent, most cases of osteoarticular (OA) tuberculosis (TB) are missed until significant bony destruction has occurred. Initial presentation of extra-pulmonary TB mimics many other disease entities while many diseases mimic TB. This may lead to an incorrect diagnosis and sometimes creates a dilemma in reaching the correct diagnosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate a series of pediatric cases of osteoarticular TB, which posed a diagnostic challenge to us.

Material and methods

Retrospective analysis of case records of pediatric OA-TB patients who had presented to two tertiary level centers of urban India between February 2016 and December 2020 was done. There were a total of 69 patients. 

Observations

There were 37 males and 32 females. The age range was from two to 17 years. Forty-four patients showed evidence of disease within the spine (dorsal region followed by lumbar, followed by the cervical spine), 16 showed disease of the extremities, six had disease of the girdle bones, and three showed disease of the short bones of hands or foot. In our series, patients presented to us between 15 days to six months from the onset of symptoms. From our series, six cases with atypical clinical pictures have been selected for presentation purposes. In all six cases, the initial presentation was not that of OA-TB. However, with a high degree of suspicion, differential diagnosis of TB was kept in mind, and the diagnosis was confirmed microbiologically.

Conclusion

A high degree of suspicion is required to avoid missing the diagnosis of osteoarticular TB. Non-invasive advanced radiological investigations such as MRI and microbiological analysis of biopsy specimens aid in arriving at the correct diagnosis.

Immunopathogenesis in HIV-associated pediatric tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is an increasing global emergency in human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) patients, in which host immunity is dysregulated and compromised. However, the pathogenesis and efficacy of therapeutic strategies in HIV-associated TB in developing infants are essentially lacking. Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccine, an attenuated live strain of Mycobacterium bovis, is not adequately effective, which confers partial protection against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) in infants when administered at birth. However, pediatric HIV infection is most devastating in the disease progression of TB. It remains challenging whether early antiretroviral therapy (ART) could maintain immune development and function, and restore Mtb-specific immune function in HIV-associated TB in children. A better understanding of the immunopathogenesis in HIV-associated pediatric Mtb infection is essential to provide more effective interventions, reducing the risk of morbidity and mortality in HIV-associated Mtb infection in infants. IMPACT: Children living with HIV are more likely prone to opportunistic infection, predisposing high risk of TB diseases. HIV and Mtb coinfection in infants may synergistically accelerate disease progression. Early ART may probably induce immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome and TB pathology in HIV/Mtb coinfected infants.

Hallazgos de tuberculosis extrapulmonar en imágenes de resonancia magnética en una paciente pediátrica

La tuberculosis pulmonar es la más común en niños y su forma extrapulmonar corresponde aproximadamente a 30 a 40 % de los casos.

Se presenta el caso de una niña indígena con tuberculosis diseminada: pulmonar, cerebral, medular y musculoesquelética, con importantes secuelas en el neurodesarrollo. Este caso ilustra el espectro de la tuberculosis extrapulmonar pediátrica en países endémicos en desarrollo. Además, evidencia la gravedad de las complicaciones neurológicas causantes de grave discapacidad y resalta el valor de las imágenes radiológicas para orientar la sospecha diagnóstica de compromiso extrapulmonar.

Miliary tuberculosis in a paediatric patient with psoriasis

We present a 16-year-old girl with a history of well-controlled psoriasis, on immunosuppression, who sought evaluation in the emergency department for 4 months of fever, cough and unintentional weight loss. The patient had seen multiple providers who had diagnosed her with community-acquired pneumonia, but she was unimproved after oral antibiotic therapy. On presentation, she was noted to be febrile, tachycardic and chronically ill-appearing. Her chest X-ray showed diffuse opacities and a right upper lobe cavitary lesion concerning for tuberculosis. A subsequent chest CT revealed miliary pulmonary nodules in addition to the cavitary lesion. The patient underwent subsequent brain MRI, which revealed multifocal ring-enhancing nodules consistent with parenchymal involvement. The patient was diagnosed with miliary tuberculosis and improved on quadruple therapy. Though rates of tuberculosis are increasing, rates remain low in children, though special consideration should be given to children who are immunosuppressed.

Tuberculosis musculoesquelética que imita neoplasia de tejidos blandos: A propósito de dos casos

La tuberculosis (TB) es una de las enfermedades infecciosas con mayor carga de morbimortalidad a nivel mundial, la presentación pulmonar es la forma más común, sin embargo, las manifestaciones extrapulmonares, especialmente las osteoarticulares, pueden ser difíciles de diagnosticar debido a sus síntomas inespecíficos sugestivos de otras entidades como neoplasias o enfermedades infiltrativas, lo que hace de su diagnóstico un reto clínico. Está enfermedad esta asociada a múltiples factores de riesgo como inmunosupresión, contacto cercano con pacientes con tuberculosis, hacinamiento, residir en zona endémica, entre otros. A continuación, se presentan dos casos de pacientes pediátricos sin compromiso inmune que cursaron con cuadros sugestivos de neoplasias musculoesqueleticas, con hallazgos imagenológicos congruentes, pero con estudios microbiológicos positivos para TB.

The epidemiology of extrapulmonary tuberculosis in China: A large-scale multi-center observational study

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a serious global public health problem in the present. TB also affects other sites (extrapulmonary tuberculosis, EPTB), and accounts for a significant proportion of tuberculosis cases worldwide. In order to comprehensively understand epidemiology of EBTB in China, and improve early diagnosis and treatment, we conducted a large-scale multi-center observational study to assess the demographic data and the prevalence of common EPTB inpatients, and further evaluate the prevalence of EPTB concurrent with Pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and the associations between multiple EPTB types and gender-age group in China. All consecutive age≥15yr inpatients with a confirmed diagnosis of EPTB during the period from January 2011 to December 2017 were included in the study. The descriptive statistical analysis included median and quartile measurements for continuous variables, and frequencies and proportions with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for categorical variables. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to compare the association of multiple EPTB types between age group and gender. The results showed that the proportion of 15–24 years and 25–34 years in EPTB inpatients were the most and the ratio of male: female was 1.51. Approximately 70% of EPTB inpatients were concurrent with PTB or other types of EPTB. The most common of EPTB was tuberculous pleurisy (50.15%), followed by bronchial tuberculosis (14.96%), tuberculous lymphadenitis of the neck (7.24%), tuberculous meningitis (7.23%), etc. It was found that many EPTB inpatients concurrent with PTB. The highest prevalence of EPTB concurrent with PTB was pharyngeal/laryngeal tuberculosis (91.31%), followed by bronchial tuberculosis (89.52%), tuberculosis of hilar lymph nodes (79.52%), tuberculosis of mediastinal lymph nodes (79.13%), intestinal tuberculosis (72.04%), tuberculous pleurisy (65.31%) and tuberculous meningitis (62.64%), etc. The results from EPTB concurrent with PTB suggested that females EPTB inpatients were less likely to be at higher risk of concurrent PTB (aOR = 0.819, 95%CI:0.803–0.835) after adjusted by age. As age increasing, the trend risk of concurrent PTB decreased (aOR = 0.994, 95%CI: 0.989–0.999) after adjusted by gender. Our study demonstrated that the common EPTB were tuberculous pleurisy, bronchial tuberculosis, tuberculous lymphadenitis of the neck, tuberculous meningitis, etc. A majority of patients with pharyngeal/laryngeal tuberculosis, bronchial tuberculosis, tuberculosis of hilar/mediastinal lymph nodes, intestinal tuberculosis, tuberculous pleurisy, tuberculous meningitis, etc. were concurrent with PTB. Female EPTB inpatients were less likely to be at higher risk of concurrent PTB, and as age increasing, the trend risk of concurrent PTB decreased. The clinicians should be alert to the presence of concurrent tuberculosis in EPTB, and all suspected cases of EPTB should be assessed for concomitant PTB to determine whether the case is infectious and to help for early diagnosis and treatment.

Case Report: Chest Wall Tuberculosis without Pulmonary Involvement in Three Pediatric Immunocompetent Patients

Primary rib cage tuberculosis (TB) is an infrequent form of presentation and represents 1% of all cases of osteoarticular TB. We report three cases of children who were previously healthy and who began with swelling of the anterior surface of the rib as initial manifestation of TB. The most important clinical presentations in this series were swelling and pain, with lytic lesions and a soft tissue mass in image studies simulating oncologic pathologies. Because none of the cases had positive epidemiological contact, TB was initially not considered, so the delay in diagnosis from the onset of symptoms was 4, 1, and 2 months, respectively. The diagnosis was made through histomorphological analyses. Treatment was administered during 12, 10, and 9 months. Posttreatment studies did not show any evidence of extrapulmonary TB and until date, the patients remained without relapse or active disease. The findings in our cases illustrate that the diagnosis of chest wall TB should be suspected in all patients from endemic areas who present rib injury.

Extrapulmonary tuberculosis

Extrapulmonary tuberculosis can be confused with other pathologies because of the variety of symptoms it generates according to the affected organ. So, extrapulmonary tuberculosis must always be taken into account by medical staff within the differential diagnosis. In this paper, a review of the literature on extrapulmonary tuberculosis is carried out with emphasis on the most frequently affected organs.

Imaging mimics of chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis: avoiding pitfalls in a diagnosis of exclusion

Chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis (CRMO) is a pediatric autoinflammatory disorder that is characterized by multiple sterile inflammatory bone lesions with a relapsing and remitting course. CRMO belongs to the autoinflammatory family of rheumatologic disorders based on absence of significant titers of autoantibodies and autoreactive T-lymphocytes. In absence of pathognomonic clinical, radiographic or pathological features, diagnosis can be challenging. CRMO shares imaging features with other diseases. It is important for radiologists to be able to differentiate other diseases from CRMO because prognosis varies from completely benign to frankly malignant. In this article we first present the clinical and imaging features of CRMO to help readers gain an understanding of the disease process, then discuss our imaging approach to CRMO and review other disease processes that sometimes share similar imaging findings to CRMO and review differentiating features to help avoid misdiagnoses.

Tolerating the Unwelcome Guest; How the Host Withstands Persistent Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Our understanding of the host response to infections has historically focused on “resistance” mechanisms that directly control pathogen replication. However, both pathogen effectors and antimicrobial immune pathways have the capacity to damage host tissue, and the ability to tolerate these insults can also be critical for host survival. These “tolerance” mechanisms may be equally as important as resistance to prevent disease in the context of a persistent infection, such as tuberculosis, when resistance mechanisms are ineffective and the pathogen persists in the tissue for long periods. Host tolerance encompasses a wide range of strategies, many of which involve regulation of the inflammatory response. Here we will examine general strategies used by macrophages and T cells to promote tolerance in the context of tuberculosis, and focus on pathways, such as regulation of inflammasome activation, that are emerging as common mediators of tolerance.