Fulminant pulmonary tuberculosis in a previously healthy young woman from the Marshall Islands: Potential risk factors

Abstract

A 19-year-old woman originally from the Republic of the Marshall Islands presented with diffuse pneumonia and acute hypoxemic respiratory failure. She dies one month into her hospitalization but the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) was not made until one day before her demise. A contact investigation screened a total of 155 persons with 36 (23%) found to have latent TB infection and seven (4.5%) with active pulmonary TB. This unfortunate case provided the opportunity to analyze the epidemiology of TB in the state of Washington in the context of those who emigrated from the Marshall Islands. The development of fulminant pulmonary TB in this previously healthy young woman also provides a segue to discuss potential risk factors for TB in the index case that include: (i) foreign-born in a TB-endemic country; (ii) race and genetic factors; (iii) age; (iv) body habitus; (v) pregnancy; and (vi) use of glucocorticoids.