CUTANEOUS TB PROFILE IN NORTH WEST PUNJAB, INDIA: A RETROSPECTIVE DATA ANALYSIS

摘要

Although it is a "disease of antiquity", nicely described by Kaur T et al, tuberculosis is still a challenge in the modern medicine. The authors highlighted the role of HIV coinfection, but we don't have to forget about the role of anti-TNF therapies (widely prescribed nowadays) in reactivating tuberculosis infection, especially in endemic regions [1].Another important point that we could observe here is the important number of cases with a negative Mantoux test (approximately 36%). As we showed previously, Mantoux or tuberculin skin test (TST) is not a reliable technique in detecting the infection. We registered positive tuberculin skin test (defined in the context of biologic therapy as induration >5 mm) in 51% of nondermatologic subjects, respectively 70% of the patients with psoriasis [2]. Among them, 50% of psoriatic patients and 28% of nondermatologic subjects had an induration >10 mm (unpublished data).