Persistence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum without chest roentgenographic evidence of active disease.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been isolated consistently from sputum over an 11-year period in an asymptomatic 64-year-old man whose chest radiographs show evidence of healed primary tuberculosis (Ranke complex) but no evidence of parenchymal disease. A lymph node-bronchial fistula associated with the Ranke complex is the likely site of active tuberculosis; however, repeated examinations of the upper and lower respiratory tract have been normal. We attribute the persistence of infection in our patient to erratic usage of antituberculous drugs.
D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D011859:Radiography; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*