Parotid gland tuberculosis accompanied by brucellosis

Abstract

Almost one-fourth of the world's population is latently infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) with approximately 3% to 15% people at risk of progression to active disease during their lifetime. Parotid gland tuberculosis (TB) is an extremely rare form of extrapulmonary TB even in endemic areas. Parotid gland TB presents clinically as a unilateral, slow-growing, and possibly painless mass. Parotid gland TB tends to mimic parotid tumors without pathological evaluation. Risk factors for active infection in extrapulmonary TB forms are human immunodeficiency virus, malnutrition, diabetes mellitus, smoking, alcoholism, hematological malignancies, and immunosuppressive treatments. Brucellosis is a systemic disease that is transmitted from unpasteurized milk and dairy products obtained from an infected animal. It can affect many organs. Brucellosis is difficult to diagnose because its signs and symptoms are nonspecific and mimic many diseases. The aim of this case report is to present the clinical features, pathophysiology, diagnostic process, and treatment of a parotid gland TB case accompanied by brucellosis, the diagnosis and treatment of which were based on the suspicion of the clinician, in the light of the literature.