How is pulmonary tuberculosis diagnosed?
Literature, opera, and art have popularised the traditional symptoms and signs of pulmonary tuberculosis (box): cough, sputum, haemoptysis, breathlessness, weight loss, anorexia, fever, malaise, wasting, and terminal cachexia figure in various combinations, not only in the descriptions of the heroes, heroines, and villains but also among the artists, poets, and musicians themselves. 3 However, none of these symptoms is peculiar to tuberculosis. Nowadays, patients with pulmonary tuberculosis who present the full spectrum of symptoms and signs are unusual in developed countries, but doctors and health workers often see such patients in developing countries. Lung cancer has become a more common cause of some or all of these symptoms in developed countries, and, as cigarette smoking increases, this may well become the case in developing countries.
