title: Primary tubercular chest wall abscess in a young immunocompetent male.
abstract: Chest wall tuberculosis is a rare entity especially in an immunocompetent patient. Infection may result from direct inoculation of the organisms or hematogenous spread from some underlying pathology. Infected lymph nodes may also transfer the bacilli through lymphatic route. Chest wall tuberculosis may resemble a pyogenic abscess or tumour and entertaining the possibility of tubercular etiology remains a clinical challenge unless there are compelling reasons of suspicion. In tuberculosis endemic countries like India, all the abscesses indolent to routine treatment need investigation to rule out mycobacterial causes. We present here a case of chest wall tuberculosis where infection was localized to skin only and, in the absence of any evidence of specific site, it appears to be a case of primary involvement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and PGIMER, New Delhi 110001, India.
authors.forename: Shweta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and PGIMER, New Delhi 110001, India.
authors.forename: R K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Mahajan
authors.affiliation: SAG Grade, Department of Microbiology, LRS, Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Disease, Delhi 110030, India.
authors.forename: V P
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Myneedu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and PGIMER, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: B B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and PGIMER, New Delhi 110001, India.
authors.forename: Nandini
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Duggal