Tuberculous lymphadenitis in South India—A histopathological and bacteriological study

Abstract

Cultures for mycobacteria and histopathological studies were done on 265 consecutive lymph node biopsies. Of these, 128 nodes showed changes consistent with tuberculosis. Mycobacteria were cultured from 101 specimens: 1 was M. scrofulaceum and the remainder M. tuberculosis. It has been found that although tuberculous lymphadenitis is a common cause of lymphadenopathy, ‘atypical’ mycobacterial infection of lymph nodes is rare in South India.