Extrapulmonary tuberculosis: Five case reports

Since the 1950s, tuberculosis (TB) morbidity has been decreasing steadily in Israel. However, recent waves of Ethiopian immigrants have brought new cases and have renewed our awareness of the disease. As in other immigrant populations, the incidence of extrapulmonary TB is relatively high, challenging the clinician to make the correct diagnosis at an early stage. Many of the new immigrants settled in the Ashkelon area and were diagnosed and treated in our hospital. We present five cases of TB with extrapulmonary manifestations. Proof of TB infection was found in sites remote from the major clinical manifestation in four of the patients, emphasizing the difficulty in diagnosing the disease. Four of the patients recovered after treatment, but the patient admitted with neurological involvement remained comatose until her death.