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

Year 2016, Volume: 6 Issue: 2 - J Microbiol Infect Dis 2016; 06(02) June Issue, 74 - 79, 01.06.2016

Sevtap Gursoy Ahmed Kehribar

https://doi.org/10.5799/jmid.328805

Cited By: 1

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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