A male with relapsing community-acquired pneumonia

(CAP)

Case presentation

• In November 2005, a 20-year-old male from Torino (Turin), Italy presented with fever, dyspnoea and cough

• Vital signs: axillary temperature 38.5°C, heart rate 125/min, sat O2 98%, respiratory rate 22 breaths/min, blood pressure 120/80 mmHg

• Physical examination: no cyanosis; no orthopnoea; no signs of respiratory distress

• Signs of left-sided consolidation• Laboratory findings: white blood cell (WBC) count

10.2 x 109/L (10 200/µL) (neutrophils 75%), normal liver and renal function, haemoglobin (Hb) 6.7 mmol/L (10.8 g/dL)

Past medical history

• No chronic heart or lung diseases; no diabetes• Non-smoker and never treated with steroids• He had neither travelled recently nor had contact with

sick children• No known exposure to infectious diseases• Not known to be an intravenous (IV) drug user• He had a tonsillectomy 12 years previously• He receives chronic treatment with valproic acid for

seizures (last seizure was 4 years ago)

Chest X-ray (November 2005)

How would you treat this patient?

1. Admission to hospital for parenteral therapy

2. Parenteral therapy on an outpatient basis

3. Oral therapy on an outpatient basis

Outpatient treatment

• The patient was treated empirically with 500 mg qd IV levofloxacin

• He was switched to oral therapy on Day 4

CAP: treatment options for non-hospitalised patients

• Azithromycin• Clarithromycin• Clarithromycin ER• Doxycycline

• Azithromycin or clarithromycin + amoxicillin or AM/CL

• Gati-, gemi-, levo- or moxifloxacin• Azithromycin• Clarithromycin• Clarithromycin ER

• Telithromycin

Gilbert et al. The Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy. 35th Edn (2005)

If antibiotics received in the previous 3 months:

Amoxicillin or AM/CL or cefdinir or cefpodoxime or cefprozil

No comorbidity Comorbidity

+

Introduced in 2005:750 mg qd levofloxacin

AM/CL, amoxicillin–clavulanate; ER, extended release

Clinical evolution

• The patient was treated with levofloxacin for 10 days

• No fever on Day 3; WBC count back to normal on Day 4

• Cough persisted after treatment was completed

Patient relapses...

• One month after his first visit, the patient was admitted with fever, cough and dyspnoea

• The patient is pale and appears unwell• Persisting signs of left-sided consolidation• Laboratory findings: ESR 64 mm/h, C-reactive protein

1.8 mg/L (normal <0.5 mg/L), WBC count 10.6 x 109/L (10 620/µL), Hb 6.6 mmol/L (10.7 g/dL)

• Serology: negative for HCV and HIV, anti-HBsAg positive (vaccinated), negative IgM for Mycoplasma spp.

• Urinary antigen test negative for Legionella spp.ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate

Chest X-ray (1 month after initial presentation)

What do you think is the current aetiology?

1. Fluoroquinolone-resistant Pneumococcus spp.

2. Pseudomonas aeruginosa

3. Fungal pneumonia

4. Community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

5. Legionella spp.

6. Other

Action taken

• The patient was then hospitalised on a general medical ward

• A CT scan was performed• Treatment with piperacillin/tazobactam,

clindamycin and azithromycin was started

Lung CT scan

Lung CT scan

What would you do?

1. Send sputum for analysis

2. Bronchoscopy and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) ± protected specimen brush

3. Open lung biopsy

4. No investigations; empiric therapy only

Treatment and follow-up

• After 4 days of treatment with piperacillin/tazobactam, clindamycin and azithromycin, there was no change in the fever pattern

• The patient then underwent bronchoscopy and BAL

• No neoplastic cells, plenty of neutrophils, rare macrophages (histiocytes)

• Gram stain: no bacteria observed• Ziehl–Nielsen: positive for acid-fast bacilli• Samples sent to the laboratory for culture

BAL results

Follow-up

• Relapsing pneumonia in a previously healthy young man, without any risk factors for chronic lung disease and without overt epidemiological risk factors for tuberculosis (TB)

• The patient was referred to an infectious diseases (ID) specialist and then transferred to the ID Unit

Treatment

• The patient was started on a 4-drug combination regimen with isoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol and pyrazinamide PLUS moxifloxacin

• Sensitivity test ordered on the Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain grown in culture

• Despite treatment, the patient experienced only a transient improvement in symptoms

• Fever persisted for >2 weeks

Is there any rationale for moxifloxacin here?

1. Yes

2. No

3. Don’t know

Why moxifloxacin?

• The patient’s story is consistent with an initial satisfactory response to a fluoroquinolone, which may also suggest that pathogens other than M. tuberculosis contributed to some extent to the original infection

• The patient had some degree of respiratory failure• The first ID consultant approaching this patient

decided to administer moxifloxacin in order to cover conventional pneumonia pathogens possibly co-existing with M. tuberculosis

First unexpected finding

• This is a multidrug-resistant (MDR) M. tuberculosis isolate

• Since no prior anti-TB treatment was administered to the patient, the case is classifiable as primary MDR-TB

Sensitivity of M. tuberculosis grown from first samples:

• Rifampin R • Isoniazid R• Pyrazinamide R• Ethambutol R• Amikacin S• Ciprofloxacin S• Ethionamide R• Para-aminosalicylic acid (PAS) R

Microbiology

Antibiotic treatment

• The patient was still undergoing treatment with isoniazid, rifampin, pyrazinamide and ethambutol WITH moxifloxacin when the results of the sensitivity test became available

Second-line treatment

• The patient started on linezolid, moxifloxacin, amikacin, ethionamide, PAS and cycloserine

• After 4–6 weeks of linezolid treatment, cultures were persistently negative

• A chest CT scan performed in March 2006 showed a significant improvement in the signs of pneumonia. Small areas of bronchiectasis were reported in the left lung

• The only recognisable risk factor for TB was that the patient was a student in an evening class, which was also attended by immigrants from Eastern Europe

Chest CT scan (March 2006)

Chest CT scan (March 2006)

Follow-up (1)

• The patient was discharged on 13 March 2005 and readmitted on 7 April for nausea, vomiting, thrombocytopenia (platelets 73 x 109/L [73, 000/µL]) and anaemia (Hb 4.8 mmol/L [7.8 g/dL])

• Treatment was withdrawn • The patient was discharged on 18 April• He was treated with high-dose B-vitamin complex;

second-line treatment with linezolid, amikacin and levofloxacin was started 3 weeks later

Microbiology

Sensitivity of M. tuberculosis at the start of second-line treatment

• Rifampin R • Isoniazid R• Pyrazinamide R• Ethambutol R• Amikacin S• Ciprofloxacin R• Ethionamide R• PAS R

Anti-TB virtual monotherapy with

moxifloxacin selected for

fluoroquinolone resistance

Linezolid and TB (1)

• 55 M. tuberculosis isolates studied: 42 susceptible, 3 isoniazid-resistant and 10 isoniazid- and rifampin-resistant); 1 Mycobacterium bovis and 2 MDR M. bovis

• Methods: standard 7H10 agar proportion and ESP Culture System II methods

• Similar MIC90 values of 0.5 mg/L with both methods

• No differences were observed between susceptible and resistant isolates with an MIC range of 0.12–0.5 mg/L

• Potential role for linezolid in the treatment of TBTato, et al. Int J Antimicrob Agents 2006;28:75–78

Linezolid and TB (2)

• 5 patients with MDR-TB – 2 patients had MDR M. bovis, with resistance to 12 anti-TB agents– 3 patients had MDR M. tuberculosis, with resistance to all first-line drugs

and other second-line drugs

• Linezolid was given with thiacetazone, clofazimine or AM/CL• MIC values were <0.5 mg/L • In all cases, cultures were sterile after 6 weeks of therapy• 4 patients developed anaemia

– Needed blood transfusions – In 2 patients, linezolid daily dose was reduced by 50% (300 mg twice daily)

to decrease toxicity while maintaining efficacy Linezolid effective but frequently associated with toxicity (mainly

anaemia and peripheral neuropathy)Fortun, et al. J Antimicrob Chemother 2005;56:180–185

Follow-up (2)

• Transient elevation of lactic acid during linezolid treatment

• No more thrombocytopenia

• Needed multiple red blood cell transfusions for anaemia

• Treatment interrupted indefinitively in June 2006 after achievement of clinical recovery and substantial improvement of radiological findings; this decision was taken after considering the worsening of peripheral neuropathy

• Progressive recovery from peripheral neuropathy following treatment interruption

Chest CT scan (June 2006)

Chest CT scan (June 2006)

Second unexpected finding

• This is an MDR M. tuberculosis isolate belonging to the Beijing family

• M. tuberculosis Beijing is characterised by an unexpectedly high attack rate. In normal circumstances, 10% of exposed individuals will eventually develop active TB; however, in the case of Beijing strains, the rate may be as high as 60%

Key learning points

1. TB is on the increase worldwide; consider TB even in low-risk patients

2. MDR-TB is a growing reality that makes sensitivity testing highly advisable in all TB cases

3. Fluoroquinolones are an additional therapeutic weapon against M. tuberculosis; fluoroquinolones should be used in the treatment of CAP when the probability of TB can be reasonably excluded in order to avoid TB monotherapy and resistance selection

4. Further investigations regarding the potential role of linezolid in TB therapy are warranted

AIM core principles

Patient outcomes• Select the most appropriate antibiotic depending on the

patient, risk factors, suspected infection and resistance

Antibiotic choice• Administer antibiotics at the right dose for the

appropriate duration • If appropriate, change antibiotic dosage or therapy

based on resistance and pathogen information