Acute Generalized Miliary Tuberculosis in Adults

Abstract

ACUTE generalized miliary tuberculosis is a condition that results from the sudden and often overwhelming hematogenous dissemination of tubercle bacilli from an established focus to many of the organs of the body. The large number of small, acute tubercles that develop in these organs have been said to resemble millet seeds in size and appearance, whence stems the adjective "miliary." The clinical course is so varied that diagnosis before death is often not achieved. The condition should be rigidly differentiated from the various forms of nonprogressive or slowly progressive, more or less localized forms of disseminated tuberculosis. The hematogenous dissemination . . .