TUBERCULOSIS CAUSED BY MYCOBACTERIUM-AFRICANUM ASSOCIATED WITH INVOLVEMENT OF THE UPPER AND LOWER RESPIRATORY-TRACT, SKIN, AND MUCOSA

Cutaneous tuberculosis is rarely seen in industrialized countries and is usually caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We report a case of cutaneous tuberculosis with bilateral nodular scleritis, nasal sinus invasion, and nasal septum perforation (confirmed by computed tomography scans of the sinuses), associated with pulmonary infiltrates and mediastinal adenopathy, in an African woman. Mycobacterium africanum was recovered from the sputum after 8 weeks of culture in Lowenstein-Jensen medium. To our knowledge, this is the first description of M, africanum associated with cutaneous tuberculosis and nasal sinus invasion.