# Tuberculosis of the Cervical Vertebrae With Retropharyngeal and Parapharyngeal Abscesses Due to Staphylococcus aureus and Mycobacterium tuberculosis in an Adult: A Report of a Rare Case

## TL;DR

A rare case of tuberculosis in the neck bones with abscesses caused by two bacteria in an adult is reported, highlighting the challenges in diagnosis and treatment.

## Contribution

This paper presents a rare case of cervical tuberculosis with coinfection and abscesses, emphasizing diagnostic challenges and management.

## Key findings

- The patient had tuberculosis of the cervical vertebrae with abscesses caused by both Staphylococcus aureus and Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
- Diagnosis was confirmed using imaging and nucleic acid amplification tests.
- The case highlights the importance of considering rare infections in unusual clinical presentations.

## Abstract

Tuberculosis is a disease with presentations both in the lungs and at other extrapulmonary sites. While pulmonary tuberculosis constitutes a significant proportion of total tuberculosis cases, extrapulmonary cases with infections at rare sites are also documented. Herein, an exceedingly rare case of tuberculosis of the cervical vertebrae with retropharyngeal and parapharyngeal abscesses due to Staphylococcus aureus and Mycobacterium tuberculosis in a young Indian male is presented. The rarity of the locations of the lesions with coinfections with two bacteria made the diagnosis challenging. Besides, the potential for a retropharyngeal abscess to compress the airway is an emergency situation. However, the ultimate diagnosis was achieved with the help of a radiograph of the neck, contrast-enhanced computed tomography of the neck, fine-needle aspiration cytology, and a cartridge-based nucleic acid amplification test. He was initiated on appropriate antibiotics and antituberculous chemotherapy per his weight.