Tuberculous ulcer of the tongue as presenting feature of pulmonary tuberculosis and HIV infection.

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB), once a lethal disease, has shown a decrease in incidence with improved public health measures and availability of antituberculous drugs. But with the advent of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), it has re-emerged alarmingly as an opportunistic infection in immunocompromised patients. Lungs are the most commonly affected organs and involvement of the oropharyngeal region in TB is very rare. Two cases of TB manifesting as ulcer of the tongue are reported here. Interestingly, both of these cases were reported within a span of six months and both of the patients were in their early thirties. A primary diagnosis of both pulmonary TB and HIV sero-positivity was made after the diagnosis of the oral TB ulcer.