oropharyngeal tuberculosis: an unusual presentation

tuberculosis (tb) still represents a major public health problem worldwide. the primary form of disease is most often localized to the lung. in a minority of patients, progressive pulmonary disease spreads to other organ systems through self inoculation via infected sputum, blood and lymphatic system, establishing the secondary form of tuberculosis . we present a patient that was referred to us with complaint of ulcerative mouth lesions from 3 months ago. in physical examination multiple erythematous and irregularly ulcerative lesions affecting soft palate area, uvula and anterior tonsillar pillar was noted bilaterally. punch biopsy was done from several points that revealed chronic granulomatous inflammation. ziehl-nielsen staining of cultured specimen demonstrated acid-fast bacilli. chest x-ray showed apical pulmonary involvement, suggesting tuberculosis infection. patient was treated with anti-tuberculosis 4 drugs regimen. in the one year follow-up period after complete treatment; patient didn't have any evidence of disease. oral and oropharyngeal tb lesions are uncommon, it is estimated that only 0.05-5% of total tb cases may present with oral manifestations, but should be an important consideration in the differential diagnosis of lesions that appear in the oral cavity and oropharynx. the secondary form is more frequent and involves mainly the tongue but involvement of pharynx is quite rare condition. although tuberculosis of oropharynx is relatively rare, with the increasing incidence of tuberculosis, it must be considered in the differential diagnosis of atypical ulcerative lesions of the mouth and oropharynx.