Paucisymptomatic pulmonary and right ear tuberculosis in young woman suffering from anorexia and bulimia nervosa

Francesco Giuseppe Garaci; Erald Vasili; Francesco Bocchinfuso; Adriano Lacchè; Vittorio Nardone; Carlo Di Donna; Luigi Spiritigliozzi; Roberto Floris

doi:10.1016/j.radcr.2018.10.019

Paucisymptomatic pulmonary and right ear tuberculosis in young woman suffering from anorexia and bulimia nervosa

Radiol Case Rep. 2019 Jan 29;14(3):423-426. doi: 10.1016/j.radcr.2018.10.019. eCollection 2019 Mar.

Authors

Francesco Giuseppe Garaci¹, Erald Vasili¹, Francesco Bocchinfuso¹, Adriano Lacchè¹, Vittorio Nardone¹, Carlo Di Donna¹, Luigi Spiritigliozzi¹, Roberto Floris¹

Affiliation

¹ Tor Vergata University, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Department of Radiology, Viale Montpellier, 1, postal code 00133, Rome, Italy.

Abstract

Nowadays tuberculosis has become a reemerging infectious disease due to the many forms of immunodeficiency. Patients with eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia are a susceptible group due to the immune impairment correlated with severe malnutrition and their prevalence and incidence is growing. We describe the case of a 31-year-old woman, with long-standing history of anorexia nervosa and bulimia, diagnosed with advanced pulmonary tuberculosis. This case underlines the importance on never neglecting even the slightest symptoms in patients with malnutrition and never excluding this pathology without a proper investigation.

Keywords: Anorexia nervosa; Paucisymptomatic; Tuberculosis.

Publication types

Case Reports