Tuberculosis verrucous cutis mimicking chromoblastomycosis: A case report and diagnostic challenges

Abstract

Tuberculosis verrucous cutis (TBVc) is a skin infection caused by M. tuberculosis, characterized by the presence of a solitaire verrucous plaque but may present as a varies of different clinical morphologies on the finger and or feet. The diagnosis is often late because of its mimicking other diseases with different etiology. Bacterial culture examination is negative because there are few pathogens in the lesion. Meanwhile, other diagnostic methods provide lower sensitivity and specificity which add further diagnostic challenges. We presented one case report of TBVc mimicking chromoblastomycosis. A 26-year-old man complain a multiple papule-plaque verrucose on the dorsum of the right foot and extending to all of fingers for 2 years ago. The first lesion appears as a small papule verrucous then progressively to form plaque with curst yellow-red and central healing. Examination of bacterial culture with Ziehl–Neelsen stain and GeneXpert did not find M. tuberculosis but could not rule out the diagnosis of TBVc. The diagnosis was established based on the correlation of clinical manifestations and dermoscopy with histopathological examination. To date, there is no gold standard for TBVc testing. Correlation analysis of clinical manifestations, dermoscopy, and histopathology can be considered to establish the diagnosis of TBVc, especially if the culture is negative and the limitations of polymerase chain reaction tools.

Keywords

• culture
• dermoscopy
• histopathological examination
• tuberculosis verrucous cutis