1/7. Severe immune hemolytic anemia in disseminated tuberculosis with response to antituberculosis therapy.Severe hemolytic anemia in patients with disseminated tuberculosis is exceedingly rare. We report an episode of Coombs'-positive hemolytic anemia in a previously healthy young man with miliary tuberculosis, resulting in a hemoglobin level of 5 g/dL and an undetectable haptoglobin level. The patient responded well to treatment with antituberculosis drugs, and the results of the direct Coombs' test became negative without the need of blood transfusion or steroid therapy.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = health (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/7. Miliary tuberculosis with positive acid-fast bacilli in a pediatric patient.CONTEXT: Tuberculosis is an important public health issue. The Brazilian government reported 78,460 new cases in 1999. Miliary tuberculosis is a severe form of this disease. OBJECTIVE: To report on an uncommon clinical presentation of miliary tuberculosis in a child. CASE REPORT: A 5-year old boy presented in the emergency room with fatigue and weight loss. He had had staphylococcus aureus pneumonia 7 months before. Chest radiography revealed lobar consolidation and miliary pattern associated with small cavities in both upper lobes. Antibiotic therapy was started. The sputum was positive for acid-fast bacilli and hence the treatment recommended for tuberculosis (rifampicin, isoniazid [INH], pyrazinamide) was started. The patient was treated for 9 months and at the end of the follow-up period he had made a complete clinical recovery. CONCLUSION: Although in some particular cases sputum can be positive for acid-fast bacilli in children, limitations to the sputum test have forced pediatricians to base tuberculosis diagnosis on epidemiological data, clinical findings and radiographic pattern. In this particular case, we hypothesize that the sputum bacillus test was positive because bacilli grew inside residual pneumatoceles that were produced during previous pneumonia.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = health (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/7. An autopsy case of miliary tuberculosis in a young adult.A 23-year-old woman who had worked as a hostess at a nightclub was found dead in her house. The cause of death was diagnosed as miliary tuberculosis from the findings of medico-legal autopsy. Recently, tuberculosis (TB) has re-emerged as a health problem due to recurrence in the aged, and infections among health care workers and young adults like the present case. Currently, the common source of TB transmission is recurrence in the aged, but global migration, difficulty to achieve permanent immunity by BCG vaccination, immunodeficiency such as hiv infection, and drug abuse and/or sexual intercourse are also thought to be associated with tuberculosis in young adults. Forensic pathologists should be aware of such connections with TB, and should take care not to become mediators of TB infections.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 2keywords = health (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/7. Perinatally acquired neonatal tuberculosis: report of two cases.Perinatally acquired neonatal tuberculosis occurs rarely, is difficult to diagnose, may be the indicator of untreated tuberculosis in the mother, and could result in nosocomial transmission to neonatal patients, visitors to neonatal intensive care units, and health care workers. The disease may be more common in certain ethnic and social groups. Neonatal mortality approaches 30%. We report two cases with different outcomes. A neonate was treated for clinical miliary tuberculosis and survived; mycobacterium tuberculosis was cultured from bronchoscopic washings, maternal genital fluids, and tissues. A second infant died at age 46 days, and autopsy disclosed miliary tuberculosis of lungs, mediastinal and mesenteric nodes, liver, spleen, and bone marrow. The lungs were most severely affected, but the placenta and central nervous system were not involved. The histopathology was not granulomatous. After the diagnosis in the infant, the mother was ascertained to have pulmonary and genital tuberculosis. Fetal and neonatal tuberculosis could be acquired transplacentally as prenatal tuberculous chorioamnionitis, perinatally through aspiration and ingestion of infected maternal genital tissues and fluid, or postnatally through droplet spread from cases of active tuberculosis. These two neonates probably acquired the disease perinatally from maternal genital tuberculosis.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = health (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/7. Multidrug resistant miliary tuberculosis and Pott's disease in an immunocompetent patient.In a high tuberculosis TB prevalence country, mortality due to miliary TB is not unknown but the treatment outcome in general is good. We describe a previously healthy man with miliary TB who did not respond to 2-months antituberculous therapy with 4 drugs. Persistent complaints of backache, which antedated chest symptoms, resulted in a diagnosis of Pott's disease. culture of bronchial aspirate yielded multidrug resistant mycobacterium tuberculosis that responded slowly to streptomycin, ethionamide, cycloserine, clofazimine, ofloxacin, paraaminosalicylic acid and isoniazid. The association of multidrug resistant miliary TB with Pott's disease in an immunocompetent patient is yet to be highlighted.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = health (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/7. Tuberculous bacillemia, hyperpyrexia, and rapid death.Hyperpyrexia, followed rapidly by multiple organ failure and death, developed in a previously healthy man. Postmortem examination indicated disseminated tuberculosis with adrenal involvement, but also evidence compatible with heat stroke. mycobacterium tuberculosis was isolated from a routine blood culture. The patient's symptoms may have been the result of his bacillemia or the result of unapparent tuberculous chronic adrenocortical insufficiency that made him unusually sensitive to heat.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = health (Clic here for more details about this article) |
7/7. Tuberculous laryngitis in a Nigerian child.A 12.5-year-old Nigerian child presented with progressively worsening hoarseness of 9 months duration, without overt features of chronic ill health. Superficial discrete cervical adenitis, radiological evidence of miliary tuberculosis and hilar adenopathy were identified on admission. The laryngoscopic findings comprised fully mobile but 'beefy' red, oedematous vocal cords and interarytenoid region. The diagnosis of tuberculous laryngitis was made on the basis of the laryngoscopic, radiological and clinical improvement that followed antituberculous therapy. The possible pathogeneses of tuberculous laryngitis are discussed. We emphasize the importance of considering tuberculous laryngitis in a child with persistent hoarseness.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = health (Clic here for more details about this article) |