Tubercolosis and Pelger-Huet anomaly - Case report

We describe a patient with pulmonary tuberculosis and a rare disturbance of leukocyte segmentation, known as "Pelger-Huet anomaly", which can be obser ved in various diseases such as malignancies and/or infections. The importa nce of this association is equivocal: some authors have related to the asso ciation the particular severity of tuberculosis or the death they observed; in the case reported we noted no evidence of such a relation, notwithstand ing the presence of the homozygous form of the Pelger-Huet anomaly. We sugg est therefore that, when Pelger-Huet anomaly is found, an underlying diseas e should be searched for; the course of this illness, however, might not be affected.