Laboratory features for presumptive diagnosis of disseminated tuberculosis in HIV-infected patients.

Rapid diagnosis is crucial for adequate treatment of disseminated mycobacteriosis. We conducted a retrospective cohort study to identify clinical and laboratorial features of disseminated mycobacteriosis in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected patients that could help to differentiate tuberculosis (TB) from non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) disease. All patients diagnosed from 1996 to 2006 were reviewed. TB was diagnosed in 65 patients and NTM in 31. Patients with TB had higher median levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (69.0 vs. 45.0, P = 0.02) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (725.0 vs. 569.0, P = 0.03). AST and LDH may be valuable tools in differentiating disseminated TB from NTM in HIV-infected patients.