title: Diagnosis of Concurrent Pulmonary Tuberculosis and Tuberculous Otitis Media Confirmed by Xpert MTB/RIF in the United States.
abstract: Tuberculosis (TB) remains an important cause of infectious morbidity in the United States (US), necessitating timely and accurate diagnosis. We report a case of concurrent pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB presenting as tuberculous otitis media in a hospitalized US patient admitted with cough, night sweats, and unilateral purulent otorrhea. Diagnosis was made by smear microscopy and rapidly confirmed by Xpert MTB/RIF-a novel, automated nucleic acid amplification test for the rapid detection of drug-susceptible and drug-resistant TB. This case adds to the growing body of evidence validating Xpert MTB/RIF as an effective tool for the rapid diagnosis of extrapulmonary TB, even in low TB-prevalence settings such as the US, when testing is performed on non-respiratory specimens.
authors.affiliation: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Kathleen M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Tompkins
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Department of Internal Medicine.
authors.forename: Melissa A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Reimers
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of infectious diseases.
authors.forename: Becky L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: White
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of infectious diseases; Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ).
authors.forename: Michael E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Herce
keywords: Xpert; chronic otitis media; extrapulmonary tuberculosis; nucleic acid amplification test; otorrhea