Had Swollen Lymph Node On Neck And Infection Appeared. Report Showed Lymph Node And Skin TB. Advise?

Posted on Fri, 7 Jun 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 7 Jun 2013 Answered on

Thu, 27 Jun 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : I have had a swollen lymph node on the right side neck since last 2 years. but since last one month some extra swelling and infection appeared near it and hence I got it removed surgically. The lab report showed it as Lymph Node and Skin TB. Also after 5 days, I again see swelling at the same place and suspect another swollen lymph node. Do I need to conduct more tests? Also is it related to HIV in someway?

Answered by Dr. Sudarshan (2 hours later)

Hi,

Swollen lymph node can be due to tuberculous lymphadenopathy.
It is however not related to HIV. In HIV, multiple lymph nodes are enlarged at more than two sites like neck/groin/axilla etc.

In addition, HIV would show other symptoms in two years like skin rashes/oral thrush/diarrhea/ cough/weight loss/fever etc. Do you have any of these?

Also worth noting, if the lab reports of removed lymph node show TB, then you must take anti tuberculosis drugs. You can discuss this issue with your physician. In addition, you should undergo tests like total and differential blood count, ESR, PCR for TB.

Waiting for your response.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Shanthi.E

Follow up: Dr. Sudarshan (6 hours later)

Thank you Doctor for your answer. All the material on the net suggests that the Swollen Lymph diagnosed as TB is due to HIV (The body's immunity is reduced drastically due to HIV and hence TB hit the lymph node). Please help me understand more on this so that my suspicion about HIV is cleared. Thank you once again!

Answered by Dr. Sudarshan (17 hours later)

Hi again,

HIV is one of the cause for decreased immunity. Decreased immunity can cause lymph node TB. But there are patients who have only lymph node TB and not HIV.

So if you have any other symptoms mentioned above, the possibility of HIV should be considered. If you have strong suspicion of HIV or exposure to HIV then you may consider testing for HIV by ELISA or RNA PCR test.

Hope this helps.

Regards
DR Sudarshan

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad