<\/p>\n
The differential diagnosis should include bronchitis, pneumonia, The differential diagnosis should include bronchitis, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and neoplasm.\u00a0 However, this scenario smacks of tuberculosis.\u00a0 Tests ordered should include PPD, sputum AFB smears and culture, chest x-ray, CBC and possibly blood chemistries.\u00a0 A negative PPD is possible because of chronic steroid use and would not rule TB. In fact, chronic steroid use enhances….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1125,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1138","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jacobimed.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jacobimed.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jacobimed.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jacobimed.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jacobimed.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jacobimed.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1141,"href":"https:\/\/jacobimed.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1138\/revisions\/1141"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jacobimed.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jacobimed.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\ntuberculosis, and neoplasm.\u00a0 <\/span>However,
\nthis scenario smacks of tuberculosis.\u00a0 <\/span>Tests
\nordered should include PPD, sputum AFB smears and culture, chest x-ray, CBC and
\npossibly blood chemistries.\u00a0 <\/span>A
\nnegative PPD is possible because of chronic steroid use and would not rule TB.
\n<\/span>In fact, chronic steroid use enhances reactivation of TB and therefore
\nincreases this individual’s risk of disease.
\n<\/span>If the chest x-ray and sputum cultures were not consistent with acute
\npneumonia or bronchitis (the history already suggests some chronicity),
\ninitiation of therapy pending culture results would be prudent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"