Pulmonary Tuberculosis Characteristics in a Patient with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) and diabetes mellitus (DM) are two chronic diseases with major impact on worldwide morbidity and mortality. DM significantly increases the risk of death, therapeutic failure and relapse of TB, requiring a much more careful monitoring of these patients. In this article we present the case of a patient with type 2 DM in the stage of major chronic complications, with numerous risk factors for TB and atypical symptomatology, pulmonary X-ray showing active TB lesions. The patient did not follow the diabetologist's recommendations, discontinuing the antidiabetic treatment on his own initiative. The glycemic imbalance and chronic alcoholism caused the failure of the anti TB therapy.