Tuberculosis and Leprosy: Classical Granulomatous Diseases in the Twenty-First Century.

Leprosy and tuberculosis are chronic mycobacterial infections that elicit granulomatous inflammation. Both infections are curable, but granulomatous injury to cutaneous structures, including cutaneous nerves in leprosy, may cause permanent damage. Both diseases are major global concerns: tuberculosis for its high prevalence and mortality, and leprosy for its persistent global presence and high rate of neuropathic disability. Cutaneous manifestations of both leprosy and tuberculosis are frequently subtle and challenging in dermatologic practice and often require a careful travel and social history and a high index of suspicion.

[Cutaneous tuberculosis with multifocal visceral involvement]. / Tubercolosi cutanea con coinvolgimento viscerale multifocale.

The case of a young Senegalese man who developed a form of cutaneous tuberculosis associated with a disseminated disease, successfully treated with appropriate antitubercular chemotherapy is reported. We found Mycobacterium Microti in the cutaneous ulcers, the only organism isolated after many cultural and microscopical examinations of different exudates and tissues. This mycobacterium was considered up to now to be pathogenic to rodents, but not man. Its possible pathogenicity to man (under certain situations) is also suggested, and it is expected that this possibility will be supported by other reports in the near future. In addition, stress is laid on the problems of diagnosis and classification of the cutaneous tuberculosis, so uncommon in the Western Hemisphere, and its possible association with leprosy.