Kikuchi-Fujimoto Disease Mimicking Tuberculosis

Abstract

A 32-year-old woman presented with a fever and cervical lymphadenopathies. The research for Mycobacterium tuberculosis was negative. Tuberculin skin test was positive. Laboratory investigations showed an elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate and a normal white blood cell count. Bacteriological and viral investigations were negative. Quantiferon-Tb Gold test was indeterminate. Thraco-abdominal and pelvic computed tomography, FDG-PET and gallium scintigraphy revealed no abnormalities. Histological study of cervical lymph node biopsy found signs in favor of histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis. There were no epithelioid cell granulomas. A test tuberculosis treatment was refused by the patient. The evolution was marked by spontaneous clinical and biological resolution in fifty days. The negative Lowenstein-Jensen culture eliminated formally the tuberculosis. KFD was thus the most likely diagnosis.

Case Report of Kikuchi-Fujimoto Disease from Sub-Saharan Africa: An Important Mimic of Tuberculous Lymphadenitis

“…e clinical picture of KFD is often nonspecific and can be in keeping with several diagnoses such as infectious mononucleosis, bacterial lymphadenitis (mainly tuberculosis which is highly endemic in Africa), malignant lymphoma, or metastatic cancer [12]. e nonspecific nature of presentation is associated with diagnostic delay and misdiagnosis of patients [14,15], especially in TB endemic regions such as Kenya, where patients get unnecessary ATT treatment.…”