Abstract
This article presents a clinical case of erroneous diagnosis of tuberculosis in a teenager, which caused unnecessary organizational decisions and unnecessary expenses for anti-epidemic measures. The main difficulty in diagnosing tuberculosis in children is that despite the increase in tuberculin samples, the presence or absence of symptoms of acute or chronic respiratory infection, inflammatory changes in the lungs, the main criterion for diagnosing tuberculosis is the detection of mycobacterium tuberculosis (MBT). If the MBT is not identified, the remaining signs are questioned and must be confirmed by indirect signs with a logical complement to each other. Of course, all alternative causes of the identified changes must be reliably excluded. In the described case, in a teenager with questionable tuberculin tests, inflammatory foci were found in the lungs, without clinical manifestations of pneumonia. The detection of acid-resistant microorganisms (CUM) in sputum emphasized the need to exclude a tuberculous inflammatory reaction. However, first of all, the reaction of the lungs to a non-tuberculous irritant and the verification of KUM should be excluded. The combination of these signs often puts diagnosticians in a difficult position, since the diagnosis of reactive changes in the lungs does not have a well-established algorithm, and the idea that KUM is most often mycobacteria tuberculosis has no scientific justification. An erroneous diagnosis of tuberculosis leads to costly measures, namely, unnecessary examination of contact persons, which must be carried out in a short time, namely within two weeks. If it is necessary to examine a number of contact persons that exceeds the possible capacity of the institution, it poses a threat of non-compliance with the time limits of the examination. In connection with the above, only irrefutable data should be taken into account in the process of diagnosing tuberculosis, which will help to avoid unnecessary economic costs and optimize the diagnostic process. The more specialists are aware of the differences between reactive changes and tuberculosis, the less likely unnecessary examinations and anxiety for patients and their near and dear.