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Peritoneal tuberculosis is a rare disease caused by a tuberculosis infection in the lining of the abdomen. It can cause symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, and a buildup of fluid in the abdomen. It is treatable with antibiotics but can be deadly without medical treatment.
Peritoneal tuberculosis is a relatively rare disease caused by a tuberculosis infection in the lining of the abdomen. It is a type of abdominal tuberculosis that infects the peritoneum, a membrane that lines the inside of the abdominal cavity that surrounds the abdominal organs. Tuberculosis is primarily a respiratory disease, but it can infect any area of the body. Like all tuberculosis, peritoneal tuberculosis is caused primarily by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis and sometimes by other species of the genus Mycobacterium.
Tuberculosis enters the peritoneum by spreading from an infection established in other parts of the body to the abdominal cavity. The infection most commonly originates in the lungs, where it is called pulmonary tuberculosis, before spreading into the abdominal cavity when the sufferer ingests infected sputum. Tuberculosis infections in nearby organs can also spread to the peritoneum. It can also be the result of bacteria entering the peritoneum through the bloodstream or lymph nodes. Mycobacterium tuberculosis can remain dormant in the body for long periods of time, so peritoneal tuberculosis symptoms may not show up until years after the bacterium has entered the peritoneum. Most people with Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria at some point are just carriers and not suffering from the disease, but they can start to develop symptoms if their immune response is weakened.
As with other TB infections, peritoneal TB causes symptoms such as fever, weakness, and night sweats. Infection of the peritoneum also causes symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, and a feeling of pressure or heaviness in the abdomen. Hematochezia, or blood in the stool, is also common. A minority of cases of this type of tuberculosis occur at the same time as pulmonary tuberculosis, which has symptoms such as chest pain, coughing, and bloody phlegm production, but most cases do not.
The most common form of peritoneal tuberculosis causes a buildup of fluid, called ascites, in the cavity between the two layers of the peritoneum, the parietal peritoneum and the visceral peritoneum. These are called wet-type infections, in contrast to dry-type infections, where this fluid buildup does not occur. Ascites can cause additional symptoms, such as swelling, distention, and shortness of breath. It also creates the risk of further complications, such as inflammation and kidney problems.
Peritoneal tuberculosis is rare in the industrialized world but more common in developing countries. It is treatable with antibiotics but can be deadly without medical treatment. People with weakened immune systems from poor health, side effects of some medications, and diseases such as AIDS that damage the immune system are particularly vulnerable to the danger of a latent infection becoming active.
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