Tuberculosis-Associated Septic Shock: A Case Series

Tuberculosis septic shock (TBSS) is a rare diagnosis due to inherent diagnostic difficulty or attribution to alternate causes. We report six cases of TBSS, along with comorbidities, clinical characteristics, hospital course, and in-hospital outcomes. All patients were middle-aged, with a median age of 54.5 years (interquartile range (IQR): 47-62). Four patients were males, whereas two were females. Majority (n = 4, 66.7%) of patients had comorbidities. Diabetes mellitus (n = 3, 50%), systemic hypertension (n = 2, 33.3%), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (n = 1, 16.7%) were the reported comorbidities in included patients. Median Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score at admission was 12 (IQR: 12-16). All patients had a microbiologic diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB). Four patients (66.7%) had respiratory secretions positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) by acid-fast bacilli (AFB) smear or cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test (CBNAAT), two had sputum positivity, one had induced sputum positivity, whereas another had bronchoalveolar lavage specimen positive for MTB. One patient had lymph node aspirate positivity, and another had chest wall abscess positive for MTB. All had drug-sensitive TB. Five patients could be prescribed all four primary antitubercular drugs; one patient had deranged liver enzymes, requiring initiation of modified antitubercular therapy (ATT). Five patients were discharged successfully, whereas one patient died during the hospital stay. In-hospital mortality was 16.7%.