An atypical manifestation of cutaneous tuberculosis in human immunodeficiency virus: Exploring the spectrum of tuberculosis-immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome

Abstract

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India accounts for 23% of all tuberculosis (TB) cases worldwide, and 2.4 million people living with human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (PLHA). From a study conducted in the dermatology outpatient of a tertiary care hospital in northern India, there were 0.7% cases of cutaneous TB, with a human immunodeficiency virus concurrence of 9.1% which is high. It can be attributed that PLHA have low CD4 count, leading to them being prone to reactivation of latent or fresh TB infection and rapid clinical deterioration. We report a case of unusual cutaneous TB in a PLHA with multiple sexually transmitted infections in the light of TB-immune reconstitution syndrome.