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Mycobacterial mimicry in a man from Myanmar

David WJ Griffin, G Khai Lin Huang, Philippe Lachapelle, Steven YC Tong and Siddhartha Mahanty
Med J Aust 2019; 210 (8): . || doi: 10.5694/mja2.50133
Published online: 6 May 2019

A 26‐year‐old refugee from Myanmar was referred to the infectious diseases unit of an Australian teaching hospital for assessment of suspected recurrent pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). He had arrived in Australia 3 months earlier, after spending the preceding 5 years in Malaysia. He was diagnosed with presumed pulmonary TB in Malaysia in 2013, in the context of a productive cough and suspicious chest x‐ray findings, without microbiological confirmation. He completed treatment with 6 months of first line anti‐TB therapy (2 months of rifampicin, isoniazid, pyrazinamide and ethambutol, followed by 4 months of rifampicin and isoniazid).


  • 1 Victorian Infectious Diseases Service, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, VIC
  • 2 Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, VIC
  • 3 Menzies School of Health Research and Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, NT


Correspondence: davidwjgriffin@gmail.com

Acknowledgements: 

David Griffin and Khai Huang contributed equally to the authorship of this manuscript. We would like to thank the staff in the Department of Microbiology at Melbourne Health.

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

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