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Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Sequencing of Bacterial Microflora in Peripheral Blood: our Experience with HIV-infected Patients
Published on: June 11, 2011
Disseminated tuberculosis presenting with polymorphonuclear effusion and septic shock in an HIV-seropositive patient:
Olivier Nancoz1, Omar Kherad, Etienne Perrin
1Department of Internal Medicine, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland. olivier.nancoz@hcuge.ch.
Introduction:
Because a substantial number of patients present with few or atypical symptoms, the recognition of tuberculosis remains challenging. Disseminated tuberculosis presenting with septic shock has already been described in some case reports, but, to the best of our knowledge, it has never been associated with polymorphonuclear effusion.
Case Presentation:
We describe the case of a 27-year-old man from western Africa who was seropositive for human immunodeficiency virus. He presented with pleural and abdominal polymorphonuclear effusions and quickly developed septic shock due to disseminated Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection leading to multiple organ failure and death.
Conclusion:
In high-risk patients, Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection should be considered even in exceptional clinical presentations, such as septic shock and polymorphonuclear effusions.
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