Clinical Aspects of Adult Tuberculosis in HIV-Infected Patients

Prior to the development of chemotherapy, tuberculosis frequently progressed, unabated, to cause severe cavitary lung disease. Persons with tuberculosis expectorated large numbers of bacilli from pulmonary foci and these highly infectious secretions could then directly infect the mucosa of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts. Thus, common features included indolent ulcers of the tongue and mouth, frequent involvement of the larynx and middle ear, and severe gastrointestinal disease (Marshall, 1993).