Appendiceal TB traced back to drinking raw milk 40 years earlier: case report
The middle-aged woman told doctors she had 'frequently ingested unpasteurised cow’s milk throughout her adolescent years'.
A childhood habit of drinking raw milk was the likely cause of a bovine TB infection that arose decades later, presenting as a rare appendicitis mimic, UK doctors report.
The patient, in her 50s, presented to hospital with a two-week history of generalised abdominal pain that acutely worsened and localised to the right iliac fossa, along with nausea and vomiting.
She also described reduced oral intake, anorexia and night sweats in recent months, while blood tests showed raised inflammatory markers.
A CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis “could not clearly delineate the appendix”, the authors wrote in BMJ Case Reports.
