In a rare case, an asymptomatic Covid-19 patient developed disseminated tuberculosis (TB) with as many as nine body parts infected with TB lesions. These included reproductive organs. This Covid-19-triggered disseminated TB case reported at a city hospital is perhaps the first such incident during the pandemic in these parts.

TB normally infects one organ, mostly lungs. If it infects multiple organs simultaneously, it is called disseminated tuberculosis or DTB. Generally, DTB cases are triggered by viruses like cytomegalovirus, hepatitis C and human herpes, which cause temporary or transient immunosuppression. But, no case of DTB caused by Covid-19 has so far been documented. Although, Covid-19 virus infecting multiple body parts has been reported this is the first case where it has facilitated the TB bacteria to spread to several organs.

The young woman patient from Andhra Pradesh was admitted to a corporate hospital in Hyderabad with a complaint of pain in the neck and right hand. She and her family members did not have any Covid-19 symptoms. The antibody test revealed that she had the novel coronavirus in her body but without any symptoms. She was non-diabetic and immune-competent. She underwent two major spine surgeries and recovered despite nine of her body party infected by TB. Dr P Ranganadham, senior neurosurgeon, Sunshine Hospitals, Gachibowli, told TOI that the case was unique as the patient was perfectly immunocompetent (good immunity). A PET scan revealed multiple TB lesions including three spots in the spinal cord. Besides the spinal cord, lungs, fallopian tubes, uterine cavity, brain and bones were also infected. “The obvious cause of disseminated TB could not be elucidated, but we hypothesise the role of transient immunosuppression leading to the dissemination of infection by changing the immunity to B bacteria in the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.