We present the case of a 37 year-old female who had disseminated tuberculosis (TB) with bilateral adrenal involvement resulting in primary adrenal failure (Addison's disease) with refractory hyponatraemia and possible extrapontine 'myelinolysis'. Laboratory results were remarkable for adrenal insufficiency. A Mantoux reaction was positive with evidence of pulmonary miliary TB. The magnetic reso...

INTRODUCTION In the last years, we observed an alarming increase in the number of newly diagnosed HIV infected intravenous drug users (IDUs) co-infected with hepatitis viruses or with severe bacterial infections. The aim of our study was to assess the incidence, the demographic and clinical characteristics of IDUs diagnosed with HIV, HCV and tuberculosis (TB). MATERIALS AND METHODS Prospectiv...

Background Mycobacterium tuberculosis and HIV act synergistically to enhance and accelerate the development of tuberculosis and progression of HIV infection to AIDS. Hematogenous dissemination of M. tuberculosis leading to extrapulmonary TB, disseminated TB and miliary TB is greatly increased in HIV+ TB patients. We have compared the transcriptome of M. tuberculosis replicating in whole blood f...

BACKGROUND Th1 cytokines, IL-2 and IFN-gamma , have critical importance in the CD4 cell driven antimycobacterial activity. Th2 type immune response is a characteristic feature of atopic disorders. Th1 and Th2 cells have been reported to negatively cross-regulate each other in vitro and in experimental animals. Our aim in the present study is to determine whether the atopy affects radiological e...

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a systemic autoimmune disorder. Intercurrent infections and nephritis are important causes of mortality in SLE. Among infections, tuberculosis (TB) is of particular importance as SLE patients are more susceptible to develop active TB, prior TB can precipitate SLE in genetically susceptible individuals and similar clinical presentations of SLE flare and TB m...

Disseminated tuberculosis (TB) results from the lymphohematogenous spread of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Despite the availability of effective therapy, diagnosis is usually late and mortality remains high. We report a case of a 29-year-old male with a history of alcohol abuse that presented with altered mental status and was found to have a 'tree-in-bud' sign on chest radiography. Chest compute...

BACKGROUND Stigmatising and discriminating attitudes may discourage tuberculosis (TB) patients from actively seeking medical care, hide their disease status, and discontinue treatment. It is expected that appropriate knowledge regarding TB should remove stigmatising and discriminating attitudes. In this study we assessed the prevalence of stigmatising and discriminating attitudes towards TB pat...

OBJECTIVE To review factors associated with TB-related deaths in Queensland, Australia. DESIGN Review of data for TB patients dying before treatment completion; demographic and clinico-pathological comparison of TB-related deaths with other notified patients after exclusion of losses to follow-up; matched case-control study of co-morbid conditions in patients under 75 years. RESULTS Of 1003...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis was discovered by Robert Koch in 1882. It has been observed that 30% of the world population harbours Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Spread of Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, malignancies, globalization and malnutrition are some of the major contributing factors for increase in the global burden of tuberculosis (pulmonar...

This article presents a case of multi drug-resistant congenital tuberculosis (TB) in an infant. His mother was diagnosed with disseminated TB and treatment commenced 26 days postpartum. The infant was diagnosed with TB after 46 days and died at 2 months and 16 days of age. Congenital transmission of TB to the infant was suspected, because direct postpartum transmission was considered unlikely; ...