tuberculosis (post-primary)
Last reviewed 01/2018
Post-primary, or adult tuberculosis, is usually due to reactivation of a primary lesion. Occasionally, it may be due to re-infection of a primary lesion.
Classical symptoms associated with this disease are cough, haemoptysis, weight loss, night sweats and malaise. The patient may present with an unresolved pneumonia. A presentation characterised by fever, malaise, splenomegaly and associated hilar or cervical lymph node enlargement may occur in immigrants from Africa and Asia.
Signs may include any combination of consolidation, effusion, fibrosis and collapse, or none at all.
types of post-primary tuberculosis