Non-pulmonary tuberculosis and mycobacterial infection

Drobniewski, Francis A.; Amin, Amit K.; Balabanova, Yanina

doi:10.1016/j.mpmed.2009.09.014

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Volume 37, Issue 12 , Pages 649-653, December 2009

Non-pulmonary tuberculosis and mycobacterial infection

Francis A Drobniewski MA PhD MBBS DTM&H is a Director of and Consultant in the Health Protection Agency National Mycobacterium Reference Laboratory, Honorary Consultant Physician in Clinical Tuberculosis, and Professor of Tuberculosis and Mycobacterial Diseases at the University of London, UK. Competing interests: none declared

Amit K Amin BSc MBBS MRCP is a Specialist Registrar in Medical Microbiology at Whipps Cross University Hospital, London, UK. Competing interests: none declared

Yanina Balabanova MD MSc DTM&H PhD is a Post-Doctoral Research Associate and International Programme Manager in the Centre for Infectious Diseases, Institute for Cell and Molecular Sciences, Barts and the London School of Medicine, UK. Competing interests: none declared

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) can affect any part of the body, and non-pulmonary TB accounted for 43% of notifications in England and Wales in 2007. Non-tuberculous mycobacteria can also cause non-pulmonary infection, including lymphadenitis and cutaneous disease. Diagnosis of non-pulmonary mycobacterial infection requires high-quality clinical specimens and relies on microscopy, culture, and molecular techniques. Treatment may involve a longer duration of therapy than for pulmonary TB, and may be less successful.

Keywords: atypical mycobacteria, molecular assays, TB meningitis, tuberculosis