21 July 2026
: Case report 
Tuberculosis in the Context of Idiopathic CD4 Lymphocytopenia: A Case Report and Literature Review
Challenging differential diagnosis, Unusual or unexpected effect of treatment, Rare disease
Sara M. Alwarthan
EFG 1,2*, Abir Hamad Alsaid E 2,3, Ashraf Ezzat Abdelsamad Attia F 2,4,5, Ahmed Alsahlawi E 1,2, Shahad Ali AlZahrani EF 2,6, Khalid Ghazai Alotaibi E 2,6, Hassan Naasr Al Dhneem E 2,6, Marwan Jabr Alwazzeh EF 2,6
DOI: 10.12659/AJCR.953101
Am J Case Rep 2026; 27:e953101
Table 2 Reported TB cases in the context of ICL in the literature.
| Paper type | Publication year | TB Patient number | TB manifestations | Associated opportunistic infections/malignancies | Outcome | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retrospective cohort study (24 patients) | 2017 | 3 patients, not specified whether they were non-tuberculous or tuberculosis | No data | No data | No data | Yarmohammadi and Cunningham-Rundles []3 |
| Retrospective cohort study (40 patients) | 2014 | 2 TB patients and one with non-tuberculous infection | Not defined | One patient died | Régent et al []4 | |
| Longitudinal cohort study (91 patients) | 2023 | 5 patients with non-tuberculous infections | No data | No will defined | No data | Lisco et al []7 |
| Case report | 2009 | 1 | Disseminated TB | None | Treated successfully | Thoden et al []9 |
| Case report | 2014 | 1 | Pulmonary TB | None | Treated successfully | Said et al []10 |
| Case report | 1999 | 2 | Disseminated tuberculosis | Both treated successfully | De Socio et al []17 | |
| Case report | 1992 | 1 | Disseminated TB | Kaposi’s sarcoma | Treated successfully | Castro et al []18 |
| Case report | 2000 | 1 | Extrapulmonary TB (intestinal tuberculosis) | Esophageal candidiasis | Treated successfully | Hirasaki et al []19 |
| Brief case report | 2001 | 1 | Disseminated TB | Cryptococcal pneumonia and Cryptococcemia | The patient was treated for 24 weeks with improvement | Zaharatos et al []20 |
| Case report | 2011 | 1 | Pulmonary TB | Epidermodysplasia verruciformis-like skin eruption and brain abscesses | Died | Göktay et al []21 |
| Case report | 2022 | 1 | Pulmonary TB, tuberculous pleuritis, and meningitis TB | None | Treated successfully | Triwicaksana et al []24 |
| Case report | 2015 | 1 | Disseminated TB | None | Treated successfully | Sikri et al []25 |
| Case report (2 patients) | 2013 | 2 | Pulmonary TB | Died | Ollé-Goig et al []26 | |
| Case report | 2016 | 1 | Extrapulmonary TB | None | Treated successfully | Ramalingam et al []27 |
| Case report | 1995 | 1 | Disseminated TB | None | Treated successfully | Neukirch and Kremer []28 |
| Case report | 1998 | 1 | Disseminated TB (miliary TB) | None | Treated successfully | Suzuki et al []29 |