Background Thyroid hemiagenesis is a rare congenital anomaly in which one lobe of the thyroid gland fails to develop. There is an increased incidence of associated thyroid disorders in patients with thyroid hemiagenesis. Case presentation A 32-year-old Ugandan woman presented with a complaint of painless neck swelling of 3-months duration. The swelling was associated with a globus sensation. There was no history of thyroid – related problems or treatment prior to this presentation. Physical examination demonstrated a mobile right thyroid swelling without an obvious nodular contour. Neck ultrasound showed an absent left lobe of thyroid gland, a right lobe with a solitary nodule scoring two points on the Thyroid Imaging, Reporting and Data System (TI-RADS) and an isthmus in situ. Extensive search for possible ectopic thyroid tissue was negative. She was biochemically euthyroid. The patient was counseled about thyroid hemiagenesis and was put on a regular follow up in the clinic for the TI-RADS 2 nodule. Conclusion Thyroid hemiagenesis is often associated with other thyroid disorders. Its diagnosis should prompt an active search for other associated morphological or functional thyroid abnormalities.

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Background: Several viral, bacterial and fungal co-infections have been associated with increased morbidity and mortality among patients with COVID-19. We report a fatal case of severe COVID-19 pneumonia in a patient with a recent diagnosis of advanced HIV disease complicated by cryptococcal meningitis, disseminated tuberculosis and acute ischemic stroke. Case Presentation: A 37-year-old Ugandan woman was diagnosed with HIV infection 8 days prior to her referral to our center. She was antiretroviral naïve. Her chief complaints were worsening cough, difficulty in breathing, fever and altered mental status for 3 days with a background of a 1-month history of coughing with associated drenching night sweats and weight loss. The reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction for SARS-CoV-2 of her nasopharyngeal swab sample was positive. Chest radiograph demonstrated military pattern involvement of both lungs. The serum and cerebrospinal fluid cryptococcal antigen tests were positive. Urine lipoarabinomannan and sputum GeneXpert were positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Computed tomography of the brain showed a large acute ischemic infarct in the territory of the right middle cerebral artery. Regardless of the initiation of treatment, that is, fluconazole 1200 mg once daily, enoxaparin 60 mg, intravenous (IV) dexamethasone 6 mg once daily, oral fluconazole 1200 mg once daily, IV piperacillin/tazobactam 4.5 g three times daily and oxygen therapy, the patient passed on within 36 hours of admission. Conclusion: Co-infections worsen COVID-19 outcomes.

Background: Concurrent pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) is associated with poor treatment outcomes yet its epidemiology in Uganda is unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence, associated factors, and treatment outcomes of concurrent PTB and EPTB among patients at a national tuberculosis (TB) treatment center located at Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala, Uganda. Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of charts for people with TB who were enrolled in care between January 2015 and December 2019. Eligible charts were for people with pulmonary bacteriologically confirmed TB enrolled into care in the period under study. Concurrent PTB and EPTB was defined as PTB and bacteriological, histopathological, and/or radiological features of TB at another noncontiguous sites. Results: Overall, 400 patient charts were eligible, of whom 240 (60.0%) were aged 15–34 years and 205 (51.3%) were female. The prevalence of concurrent PTB and EPTB was 8.5% (34/400) [95% confidence interval (CI): 6.0–11.7%]. People with concurrent PTB and EPTB were more likely to have at least one comorbidity (82.4% versus 37.2%, p < 0.001), of which HIV was the most frequent. Furthermore, people with concurrent PTB and EPTB were more likely to have empyema (15% versus 2.6%, p = 0.028) but less likely to have bronchopneumonic opacification (0.0% versus 15.3%, p = 0.043) on chest x-ray imaging. People with concurrent PTB and EPTB had higher mortality (26.5% versus 6.37%) and a lower cure rate (41.2% versus 64.8%), p = 0.002. Conclusion: Our findings highlight the need for early detection of TB before dissemination particularly among people who use alcohol and people with HIV.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Background: Thyroid hemiagenesis is a rare congenital anomaly in which one lobe of thyroid gland fails to develop. There is a higher incidence of associated thyroid disorders in patients with thyroid hemiagenesis. Case presentation: A 32-year-old female presented to a hospital with complaint of painless neck swelling of 3-month duration with associated globus sensations. There were no history of thyroid related problems or thyroid related treatment prior to her presentation. Physical examination demonstrated a mobile right thyroid swelling but no obvious nodular contour. Neck ultrasound demonstrated absent left lobe of thyroid gland, right thyroid gland with solitary nodule of TI-RADS 2 and isthmus in situ. Extensive search for possible ectopic thyroid tissue was negative. Thyroid function test was euthyroid. Conclusion: Early detection of this entity and follow up monitoring of thyroid morphologic and hormonal function have paramount importance.