Reactivation pulmonary tuberculosis in two patients treated with pirfenidone

Abstract

We report two cases of patients with biopsy-proven idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) who were treated with new antifibrotic agent for pirfenidone for more than 12 months. Both cases developed cavitary pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) proven by positive sputum TB culture. Both cases were treated with standard anti-TB drugs for 9 months and had complete clinical and radiological resolution. To our knowledge, these are the first reported human cases of patients with IPF who have been on pirfenidone and developed cavitary pulmonary TB.