Tuberculosis in Skin – Be Suspicious?

Abstract

We report a case of Tuberculosis verrucosa cutis in an 18 years old female patient with absence of any primary tuberculosis focus. She had a substantial positive Mantoux test and normal chest radiograph. Tuberculosis is a common disease worldwide and is reported to be the second most common infectious cause of death after HIV. The causative organism is Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), and it is capable of infecting virtually every organ of the body including the skin. Tuberculosis verrucousacutis is an exogenous infection occurring in the previously sensitized patient with a moderate to the high immune response by direct inoculation of the organism. The diagnosis in our patient was confirmed by history, clinical examination and histopathology. Lesion of tuberculosis verrucosacutis improved after anti-tuberculous treatment. Therefore, it is imperative on the biomedicine scientists to acknowledge the rampant high incidence of cutaneous TB for early recognition and treatment.