ABSTRACT
An acquired immune deficiency syndrome is a disease characterized by profound immunosuppression which leads to opportunistic infections, secondary neoplasms, and neurological disorders. Tuberculous disease that occurs within 5 years of infection is classified as ‘primary tuberculosis’. Patients present with fever, severe malaise, weight loss, and diarrhoea, and the tuberculous disease is usually disseminated. The disease may be diagnosed from the typical skin and neurological features, supported by slit skin smears. For patients in industrialized countries, a skin or nerve biopsy is always performed for proper confirmation and accurate subtyping of the disease. Clinical disease is common and precipitated by a wide range of immunological defects. Clinical disease occurs only if the patient has abnormal defences against infection, or has a structurally abnormal lung. Mycetoma is a subcutaneous fungal disease that is caused by certain environmental fungi, and is contracted by injury through the skin, mainly in tropical countries.
