Can miliary tuberculosis be an indicator for tuberculous meningitis? Evaluation of the twenty-five adult cases with meningitis accompanied by miliary tuberculosis

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to compare the characteristics of the tuberculous meningitis (TBM) patients with and without miliary tuberculosis (TB). Methods: Twenty-five patients with miliary TB of 160 patients with TBM were included in this retrospective study. Diagnosis of TBM was based on anamnesis, clinical and laboratory results, neuroradioogical signs and “Thwaites’ Diagnostic Index” while miliary TB was diagnosed by radiological imaging. Statistical analyses were performed using Chi-square test. Results: Of 25 patients with miliary TB, 14 were female and the median age was 35.3. Ages ranged between 20-35 and 17-78 years in male and female subjects, respectively. Most common symptoms at baseline were headache (84%), malaise-anorexia (68%) and nausea-vomiting (64%) while the most common findings were nuchal stiffness (84%) and fever (68%). The patients with miliary TB revealed longer symptom duration and higher rates of malaise-anorexia, night sweats, weight loss and higher protein levels in CSF than the others (p<0.05). Conclusion: Miliary TB could be an indicator for TBM in countries with high prevalence of TB. Female predominance, longer symptom duration and higher protein levels in CSF were remarkable in the patients with TBM accompanied by miliary TB. J Microbiol Infect Dis 2016;6(2): 74-79 

Keywords

• Miliary tuberculosis,Mycobacterium tuberculosis,tuberculosis

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