The role of quantiFERON-TB gold plus in mycobacterium tuberculosis detection in a severe HIV immunocompromised patient—Case report

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is an important opportunistic infection in HIV-positive people. We are reporting a case of a 31-year-old HIV-infected patient who was hospitalized in July 2021 for dysp-nea, cough with mucopurulent sputum and asthenia. He was confirmed to have Serratia liquefa-ciens pneumonia and acute respiratory failure. The evolution was unfavorable despite the antibi-otic, pathogenic and symptomatic treatment. Because the patient had severe immunosuppression (CD4 count = 37 cell/mm3), we used QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus for the detection of the Mycobac-terium tuberculosis infection. The antituberculosis therapy was initiated, which resulted in a significant improvement of the general condition and the patient was discharged with the recommendation to con-tinue antiretroviral therapy, antituberculosis treatment and Trimethoprim/Sulfamethoxazole—single tablet daily for the prophylaxis of Pneumocystis pneumonia.