Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection, which is the dominant cause of death all over the world. It is the chronic infectious disease caused by the tubercle bacillus. It is regarded as oldest disease. Tuberculosis is the infection occurs by inhaling the droplet nuclei containing Mycobacterium tuberculosis organisms by susceptible person. New methods have been evolved in diagnosing, treatment and prevention. The disease remains as an important public health problem in developing countries. Extra pulmonary TB became more common with the advent of infection with human immunodeficiency virus and by the increase in the number of organ transplantation, which also leads to immunosuppression of thousand of persons. Urogenital TB represents 27% of extrapulmonary cases. Renal involvement in TB can be part of a disseminated infection or a localized genitourinary disease. Renal involvement by TB infection is underdiagnosed in most health care centers. Most patients with renal TB have sterile pyuria, which can be accompanied by microscopic hematuria. The diagnosis of urinary tract TB is based on the finding of pyuria in the absence of common bacterial infection. The first choice drugs include isoniazide, rifampicin, pirazinamide, ethambutol, and streptomycin. Awareness of renal TB is urgently needed by physicians for suspecting this disease in patients with unexplained urinary tract abnormalities, mainly in those with any immunosuppression and those coming from TB-endemic areas.