Extrapulmonary tuberculosis in a university hospital in Spain

Pulmonary tuberculosis in Europe has been decreasing over the last decades. This study evaluates the current importance of extrapulmonary tuberculosis and its trend over the last 10 years. In a University Hospital in Spain, 20% of all bacteriologically confirmed tuberculosis cases were extrapulmonary. The most frequent site was the urinary tract (73.5%). Ziehl-Neelsen staining was positive in 50.6% of the cases. Löwenstein-Jensen cultures became positive, on average, after 4.6 +/- 1.4 weeks. The proportion of extrapulmonary tuberculosis among the total number of tuberculosis cases has steadily increased trend over the period of observation.