This is the case of a 33 years old man with history of homosexual relations and heavy alcohol drinking. Tobacco, marijuana, cocaine, basic paste and cocaine hydrochloride consumption since age 18. Because of human immunodeficiency virus infection he received irregular treatment (2006)(2007)(2008) with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAAT), regulated in the past 12 months. As the patient showed positive resistant acid-fast bacilli he received since June 2008 standard antituberculous treatment [2RHZE/4(HR)2)] (R: rifampicin; H: isoniazid; Z: pirazinamide; E: ethambutol) that was withdrawn 6 months later when the patient showed pulmonary negative acid fast bacilli. In March 2009 he felt intense lumbar pain, difficulty in walking, hypertrophy of cervical lymph nodes, cough and fever. Cervical lymph node discharge culture disclosed M. tuberculosis resistant to rifampicin. Imagenology showed several lytic lesions in skull and thoraco-lumbar vertebrae; also renitent swellings in scalp, right forearm and left rib cage. After multiple myeloma and metastatic cancer were excluded, the patient received multidrug resistant tuberculosis treatment added to HAAT, showing two months later involution of renitent swellings, absence of fever and overall improvement. After 16 months of supervised treatment, the patient gained 7 kg and all symptomatology previously present dissappeared. We discuss the pathophysiology of craniovertebral osteolytic lesions in a patient with coinfection of human immunodeficiency virus and tuberculosis.

Presentamos el caso de un paciente varón de 48 años de edad, con diagnóstico de diabetes mellitus tipo 2, no controlada, de diez años de evolución, a quien se le diagnosticó tuberculosis pulmonar mediante signos clínicos, radiográficos y cultivo en esputo positivo para Mycobacterium tuberculosis, sensible a drogas antituberculosas de primera línea. Recibió isoniacida, rifampicina, etambutol y pirazinamida. Dos meses después de iniciado el tratamiento presentó hipersensibilidad a medicamentos, con los siguientes signos y síntomas: rash dérmico generalizado, prurito generalizado, anemia Coombs positiva, eosinofilia y síntomas sistémicos, compatibles con el síndrome DRESS (drug rash with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms). Ante ello, se suspendió la medicación antituberculosa y se instaló tratamiento con antihistamínicos y corticoides sistémicos, con remisión y mejoría de síntomas. Posteriormente, recibió un esquema individualizado de tratamiento para tuberculosis consistente en medicamentos mínimamente hemato-hepatotóxicos, similar al indicado en pacientes inmunosuprimidos. Desde entonces presenta baciloscopias negativas.