title: A young non-immunocompromised woman with diffuse alveolar opacities.
abstract: Diffuse alveolar opacities (DAO) due to pulmonary tuberculosis are usually described in immunocompromised patients. In adult patients residing in high endemic areas such as India, alveolar opacities are not reported frequently in non-immunocompromised pulmonary tuberculosis patients. We describe a twenty-five-year-old woman who presented with bilateral diffuse alveolar opacities and initial diagnostic work up was directed to non-tuberculosis etiologies. Her sputum was not suggestive of tuberculous or any other infective etiology. However, histopathological examination of specimen from fine needle aspiration cytology through percutaneous route suggested chronic granulomatous disease with detection of mycobacterium. Polymerase chain reaction test in BAL and FNAC specimen confirmed tubercular etiology. Though not frequent, pulmonary tuberculous etiology is worth considering in the differential diagnosis of DAO as not only tuberculosis is fully treatable but also early detection shall help to avoid unnecessary invasive tests and cut down transmission to contacts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, India.
authors.forename: Prem Parkash
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Manish
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Verma
authors.forename: Dipti
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.forename: Sanjay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Atulya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Atreja