Multisystem Disease Caused by BCG Imitating Miliary Tuberculosis
I. Tsikonov, D. Yeshurun, J.E. Naschitz
Dept. of Medicine A, Bnai Zion Medical Center and B. Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, The Technion, Haifa
As the prevalence of tuberculosis is on the rise in western countries, we present a 79-year-old man who developed a pulmonary tuberculosis-like syndrome following immunotherapy with BCG for carcinoma of the urinary bladder. The symptoms subsided following 3-drug antitubercular treatment, and the addition of steroids following negative cultures for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The course of this disease, named BCG-osis, is much more favorable than miliary tuberculosis, even with milder treatment. It is important to keep in mind this phenomenon now that there is increasing treatment of cancers with BCG.