The occurrence of a multidrug-resistant tuberculous retropharyngeal abscess in an immunocompetent patient: A case report

Retropharyngeal abscess is an uncommon location of tuberculosis (TB). In this report, we describe a multidrug-resistant tuberculous retropharyngeal abscess in a 21-year-old female patient who was treated for lymph node TB for one year. CT scan revealed a large retropharyngeal abscess that was aspirated intraorally under local anesthesia. The diagnosis of TB was retained by molecular and histological study. GeneXpert MTB/ RIF (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, CA, USA),performed on the pus, showed rifampicin resistance and a first- and second-line drug resistance test using Genotype MTBDRplus VER.2 and MTBDRsl VER.1 (Hain Lifescience GmbH, Nehren, Germany) showed TB highly resistant to rifampicin, isoniazid, and aminoglycosides. Treatment is primarily medical as it combines specific antituberculous antibiotics, and aspiration for drainage of the abscess. Our patient was put on long-term 2nd line anti-TB treatment.