Tuberculosis of the genitourinary system in people living with HIV infection
Tuberculosis is one of the main infections in HIV-infected people. In patients who were first infected with M. tuberculosis and then with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the risk of developing tuberculosis is 5-10% per year. If these infections develop in reverse chronological order, their combination is more dramatic: usually more than 50% of HIV-infected people develop tuberculosis within a few months, immediately after the initial infection.
HIV destroys lymphocytes and monocytes, the main protective cells that resist tuberculosis infection.
I must say that the incidence of extrapulmonary forms of tuberculosis in HIV-infected people is several times higher, and the clinical course can be much more severe.
Diagnosis of extrapulmonary tuberculosis in patients with HIV infection:
If tuberculosis is suspected, in addition to radiography and computed tomography, any possible diagnostic material must be analyzed for mycobacteria. Sputum, blood, cerebrospinal fluid, urine, feces, and bronchial secretions are examined using molecular genetic methods. In some cases, a biopsy of the affected organ is performed to clarify the diagnosis. Tuberculosis diagnosis in HIV-infected patients is carried out jointly by infectious diseases specialists and phthisiologists.
• Let's look at one of the types of extrapulmonary tuberculosis - Tuberculosis of the genitourinary system. It is a disease that mainly affects organs such as the kidneys, bladder, prostate, fallopian tubes, ovaries, cervix. This pathology is equally often diagnosed in men and women. With advanced tuberculosis of the genitourinary system, surgical intervention is used in 60-80% of cases. Diagnosis of this disease is complicated by the absence of symptoms at the beginning of the disease, which gradually begin to increase. Here are some of them: frequent and painful urination, hematuria (blood in the urine), pain in the lumbar region or back, erectile dysfunction in men, "pelvic pain" in women, as well as common symptoms: weakness, loss of appetite, subfebrile fever.