Atypical Mycobacteria

Brace yourself!

The small lumen blood culture that was drawn Sunday (April 29) grew what is called Acid Fast Bacillus (AFB). AFB is associated with two types of tuberculosis. One is typical tuberculosis that everyone associates with coughing and is highly contagious. The other is non-tuberculosis also called Atypical Mycobacteria (ATM). David has atypical mycobacteria. It is not contagious. It is a common bacteria found in the environment, in soil and water all over the world. They have not identified the specific bacterium yet. We will not know the specific type or what antibiotic it is sensitive to until Monday.

The most disturbing news is that they want to put him on three antibiotics to kill the bacteria. Namely: Amikacin, Ciproflaxin, and Clarithromycin. I'm not a happy mother. How much can a little body take already? I'm a little upset today. They will need to put a PICC line in his arm! This is a less permanent line compared to the Hickman Line. One antibiotic somes in IV form, the other two in oral form.

At 8:30pm tonight he is getting a CT scan of his lungs. It's standard procedure to do a CT scan to see if there are any lesions on the lungs. Don't you think he would show symptoms if there were lesions on the lungs?!? He has no symptoms except intermittent fevers. Apparently, they've had children with no symptoms who had a CT scan which showed lesions. I'm not sure how that could happen.

He's really doing great otherwise! He is eating three meals a day. We get out for walks. He is alert and talking all day. The fevers at night are disconcerting. Last night his temp went up to 104! He is telling me right now, "Mama, let's go home." He's been such a great patient. There are so many doctors and nurses who touch and palpate him and he cooperates. He is really a good boy!

If anyone has experience dealing with this type of bacteria, please contact me.