Miliary Tuberculosis Coinfection with Human Immunodeficiency Virus

BACKGROUND Tuberculosis was a major public health problem, given the estimated one billion people infected between 2000 and 2002.1 A decrease in the incidence of tuberculosis was observed in the last decade, coinciding with improvements in social and healthcare conditions and availability of more effective antituberculous therapies. However, in the last two or three years, this decreasing trend has been interrupted by the presence of two emerging factors, the influx of immigrants and infection by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).1 In the United States, this increase in the incidence of tuberculosis in recent years has been attributed, in part, to an increase in the diagnosis of this disease among immigrants from countries with a high prevalence of tuberculosis.2 The case of an immigrant patient presenting with a septic respiratory clinical picture in which the final diagnosis was miliary tuberculosis and HIV coinfection is reported.