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Disseminated tuberculosis

• Overview
• Symptoms
• Treatment
• Prevention

Alternative Names:

Miliary tuberculosis; Tuberculosis - disseminated; Extrapulmonary tuberculosis

Symptoms:

• sweating
• fatigue
• general discomfort, uneasiness, or ill feeling ( malaise )
• weight loss
• cough
• shortness of breath
• fever

Additional symptoms that may be associated with this disease:

• paleness
• joint pain
• chills
• swollen glands
• abdominal swelling

Note: The symptoms will depend upon the affected body organ.

Signs and tests:

Enlarged lymph nodes , enlarged liver , and enlarged spleen are revealed with physical exam.

Tests:

• chest x-ray
• sputum cultures
• tuberculin skin test
• bronchoscopy for biopsy or culture
• open lung biopsy
• pleural biopsy
• biopsies and cultures of affected organs or tissues
• retinal lesions revealed with fundoscopy

This disease may also alter the results of the following tests:

• peripheral smear
• serum calcium (may be elevated)
• mycobacterial culture of bone marrow

• Review Date: 2/13/2006
• Reviewed By: Monica Gandhi, M.D., M.P.H., Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, UCSF, San Francisco, CA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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