Pulmonary tuberculosis presenting as diffuse alveolar hemorrhage: Believe it or not

Abstract

Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH) has been rarely reported with pulmonary infections and even rarer with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). We hereby report the case of a 31-year-old male, a known case of ankylosing spondylitis, who presented with clinical and radiological features consistent with DAH. Initial partial improvement with steroids was followed by a microbiological diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB). Starting of antituberculous treatment was followed by complete clinical improvement. This leads to a thought-provoking possible association between the two pathologies, DAH and PTB, if any.

Keywords

• Ankylosing spondylitis
• diffuse alveolar hemorrhage
• tuberculosis