[Two children with extrapulmonary symptoms due to tuberculosis]

Abstract

Two patients came to their general practitioner for relatively minor problems: a 4-year-old boy came with a red eye and a 10-year-old girl with red foot soles. They came from Pakistan and Vietnam respectively. Their symptoms were due to tuberculosis, which diagnosis was established by Mantoux test and culture of a stomach aspirate. They were treated accordingly with isoniazid, rifampicin and pyrazinamide and with isoniazid, rifampicin and ethambutol respectively. These cases stress the importance of knowledge of the extrapulmonary manifestations of tuberculosis. As treatment exists and adequate treatment can diminish the reservoir of tuberculosis bacteria, early diagnosis can prevent the morbidity, spread and mortality of tuberculosis.