Delayed Diagnosis of Tuberculosis Patient in High Burden Settings: A Case Report

Abstract

Despite the era of science and technology diagnosis of TB has been remained major concern in developing countries. Appearance of manifestations makes the diagnosis much simple however few symptoms overlap. A well trained physician with sufficient experience in pulmonology can trigger in early diagnosis of asymptomatic smear negative TB cases. Aim of this report was to present a TB patient misdiagnosed and wrongly treated for certain time period which increased the complications on proper medication when reached tertiary care settings. This report is about a male patient of age 76 years, seeking treatment from a tertiary care hospital. Temporary treatment continued till October 2017 when there was severe weight loss and patient started to expectorate. Bronchial washing then helped to reveal diagnosis of TB. In conclusion the system gaps still persist even in the presence of well-equipped diagnostic facilities for TB. Systematic gaps like smear negativity due to certain factors are also beyond the control. Misdiagnosis of even single patient may lead to serious complications lately as is apparent in current report.