Diagnostic delay in a multi-organ tuberculosis immunocompetent patient: a case report

Southeast Asian J Trop Med Public Health. 2007 May;38(3):507-11.

Abstract

A 67-year-old immunocompetent male presented with intermittent fever for 3 months associated with urinary incontinence, altered bowel habits and history of loss of appetite and weight. He was treated as having enteric fever at various clinics in the city by different physicians. On evaluation the patient was found to have disseminated tuberculosis with involvement of the lungs, eyes, testes, brain, bone, kidneys, liver, spleen and possibly the gastrointestinal tract. This paper reports a case of disseminated tuberculosis to many organs with significant diagnostic delay more than twelve decades after the discovery of the tuberculosis bacillus by Robert Koch.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Antitubercular Agents / pharmacology
  • Antitubercular Agents / therapeutic use
  • Humans
  • Immunocompetence*
  • Male
  • Nepal
  • Tuberculosis, Miliary / diagnosis*
  • Tuberculosis, Miliary / drug therapy
  • Tuberculosis, Miliary / physiopathology

Substances

  • Antitubercular Agents