Abstract

MARRERO RODRIGUEZ, Haidee. Death from miliary tuberculosis. MEDISAN [online]. 2013, vol.17, n.5, pp.862-866. ISSN 1029-3019.

A case report of an elderly man in senile and malnourished state was described, who had prolonged febrile syndrome and was admitted to «Dr "Ambrosio Grillo Portuondo" Clinical and Surgical Teaching Hospital of Santiago de Cuba, but a definitive diagnosis could not be obtained with complementary tests. Later he had cardiovascular decompensation and was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit, where he underwent an emergent chest radiograph, which showed characteristic lesions of miliary tuberculosis. Consequently, pulmonary specialists were consulted and it was decided to start treatment with antitubercular drugs; however, the patient died a day after the beginning of therapy. The autopsy showed a nonspecific chronic granulomatosis, which results were only confirmed 2 months later, when the culture of bronchial secretions was positive (coding 7) for Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Keywords : elderly; miliary tuberculosis; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; prolonged febrile syndrome; nonspecific chronic granulomatosis; secondary health care.

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