Water-pipe Smoking as a Risk Factor for Transmitting Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Authors

• Anna Ursula Marchetti Department of Internal Medicine, Spital Uster, Uster, Switzerland
• Oliver Louis Boss Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland
• Carla Michelle Schenker Department of Internal Medicine, Spital Interlaken, Interlaken, Switzerland
• Kaspar Kälin Department of Internal Medicine, Spital Emmental, Burgdorf, Switzerland

carlaschenker@hotmail.com

Keywords

Abstract

A 20-year-old Swiss male presented at the emergency department with acute onset of febrile temperatures and hemoptysis and a 3-month history of productive cough. An X-ray and CT scan of the chest, sputum samples for acid-fast bacilli, polymerase chain reaction(PCR), and cultures for Mycobacteria revealed pulmonary infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. None of the classical risk factors for tuberculosis were present, but the patient reported regularly smoking a water pipe. Water-pipe smoking poses a serious risk of M. tuberculosis transmission.