Respiratory Infectious Diseases Unit, National Institute for Infectious Diseases "L. Spallanzani" IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
Translational Research Unit, National Institute for Infectious Diseases "L. Spallanzani", IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
Infection. 2021 Oct;49(5):1061-1064. doi: 10.1007/s15010-021-01576-y. Epub 2021 Jan 17.
Tuberculosis (TB) is top infectious disease killer caused by a single organism responsible for 1.5 million deaths in 2018. Both COVID-19 and the pandemic response are risking to affect control measures for TB and continuity of essential services for people affected by this infection in western countries and even more in developing countries. Knowledge about concomitant pulmonary TB and COVID-19 is extremely limited. The double burden of these two diseases can have devastating effects. Here, we describe from both the clinical and the immunological point of view a case of a patient with in vitro immune cell anergy affected by bilateral cavitary pulmonary TB and subsequent COVID-19-associated pneumonia with a worst outcome. COVID-19 can be a precipitating factor in TB respiratory failure and, during ongoing SARS-COV-2 pandemic, clinicians must be aware of this possible co-infection in differential diagnosis of patients with active TB and new or worsening chest imaging.
结核病（TB）是由单一生物体引起的头号传染病杀手，2018 年导致 150 万人死亡。COVID-19 和大流行应对措施都有可能影响西方国家结核病控制措施和受这种感染影响的人的基本服务的连续性，在发展中国家更是如此。关于同时患有肺结核和 COVID-19 的知识极其有限。这两种疾病的双重负担可能会产生毁灭性的影响。在这里，我们从临床和免疫学的角度描述了一例患有双侧空洞性肺结核和随后 COVID-19 相关肺炎的体外免疫细胞无反应性患者的情况，其结果最差。COVID-19 可能是结核病呼吸衰竭的诱发因素，在 SARS-COV-2 大流行期间，临床医生在对活动性肺结核和新出现或恶化的胸部影像学患者进行鉴别诊断时，必须意识到这种可能的合并感染。
