Asthma and pulmonary tuberculosis: misdiagnosis or coexistence.

Respirology Case Reports
Lam Nguyen-HoYoon-Seok Chang

Abstract

Asthma and pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) are disease entities with different pathogenesis. However, endobronchial tuberculosis (EBTB), a peculiar form of PTB, can mimic the symptoms of asthma. Although uncommon, the coexistence of asthma and PTB can appear. We report three cases of PTB. The first two cases with EBTB were misdiagnosed as asthma and the third case with asthma developed PTB four months after high-dose inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) therapy. The first two cases presented with chronic cough up mucopurulent/purulent sputum and localized wheezing which revealed diagnostic clues. The third case presented with dry cough and showed a positive bronchodilator response and the right pulmonary apical fibrosis which could be associated with quiescent tuberculous infection. EBTB should be included in the differential diagnosis of asthma. Although rare, physicians should be aware that PTB can also be developed during the treatment course of asthma.

References

Oct 5, 2010·American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine·Paul BrassardPierre Ernst
Jun 12, 2013·Thorax·Chang-Hoon LeeJae-Joon Yim
Nov 22, 2014·QJM : Monthly Journal of the Association of Physicians·O M P Jolobe
Feb 6, 2017·Journal of Thoracic Disease·Talha Shahzad, Muhammad Irfan
Sep 22, 2017·The European Respiratory Journal·Sarah K BrodeTheodore K Marras
Sep 28, 2017·Singapore Medical Journal·Ho Lam Nguyen
Jan 15, 2019·International Journal of Infectious Diseases : IJID : Official Publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases·Lam Nguyen HoDavid L Smith

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