Patient: Director Wen, hello! About 10 days ago, my mother’s knee grew about 5 centimeters in diameter large bag, red, swollen, a little like being bitten by poisonous mosquitoes after the growth of a large bag, press on the pain, do not press on not much feeling, joints do not ache, no pain in the bones, walking does not hurt. There were two on the right foot, one on the left, and none elsewhere. At the same time, her eyes were very red, and the local township doctor said it was keratitis. There were no other symptoms, but she lost a few pounds, but was able to eat and sleep. Mom was previously found to have rheumatism in a blood test at the local township health center, but it showed that it was not rheumatoid. For a long time before, she had soreness in one finger, arm, knee and back, which was basically cured after rubbing rheumatism-expelling active oil and medicinal wine and applying medicine. Today, I went to Zhongshan Medical Cancer Hospital to see the doctor and said it was not caused by tumors, followed by the Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital Rheumatology and Immunology Department, the doctor said that suspected erythema, but tested the blood and urine, in addition to rheumatism factor is 37, the other results of what are very normal. Finally, the doctor said suspected tuberculosis, because my mother had tuberculosis at the age of 9, so the doctor then also blood tests to check the items related to tuberculosis, but rheumatoid and tuberculosis test results are not yet out, but also did a tuberculosis PPD skin test, not yet 72 hours so the results are not yet available. Yesterday there was a little bit of redness at 24 hours, and today at 48 hours it measured the size of a dollar coin. Now my mom put a blood thinning ointment on my knee and it’s not red anymore, it’s changed to a bruise like color and has cleared up a lot. The redness in her eyes basically went away after putting drops in her eyes. Does this condition look like tuberculosis? Can tuberculosis cause keratitis and hard lumps on the knees? Wen Wenpei, Department of Tuberculosis, Guangdong Provincial Tuberculosis Control Center, Guangzhou Chest Hospital: The symptoms of allergic tuberculosis are skin hardness, red eyes, joint pain and fluid in the chest, etc. In your case, you should be highly alert to this disease. In your case, you should be highly alert to the development of this disease, and should be examined to exclude it. Check the chest X-ray to see if there is tuberculosis. If necessary, experimental anti-tuberculosis treatment to see if there is any therapeutic effect. Patient: Thank you, Dr. Wen, for giving me a prompt answer. My mother’s PPD skin test is 72 hours old today, and the doctor at the local township tuberculosis prevention station said it was strongly positive, but seeing as my mother doesn’t have any other symptoms of tuberculosis, the doctor said that it just means that there’s a tuberculosis reaction, but it’s not necessarily tuberculosis, and told my mother to think about whether it’s arthritic tuberculosis. The results of the blood test for tuberculosis will only be known on Monday when I go to the Provincial People’s Hospital to get the results. The chest X-ray was taken at the Provincial People’s Hospital, which indicated that there were lung lesions, and it was recommended to have regular checkups! I would like to ask, can tuberculosis cause joint tuberculosis? If so, should I see the tuberculosis department or the bone tuberculosis department? Wen Wenpei, Department of Tuberculosis, Guangzhou Chest Hospital: Pulmonary tuberculosis and bone tuberculosis can occur at the same time. The latter is mainly treated by surgery with the cooperation of internal medicine. Patient: I went to Guangzhou Chest Hospital the other day (not your clinic time). The surgical specialist said that my mother’s bones were not swollen and it was not bone tuberculosis; then I saw the tuberculosis internal medicine department, and the internal medicine specialist said that there was nothing wrong with my mother’s lungs, which was better than before, but didn’t say that it was fine, and looked at the results of the skin test, which said that it was highly and strongly positive, and that there was a tuberculous metaplasia situation. Then some more tests were done, TB, respiratory, rheumatology were all looked at and the doctors all said it wasn’t a problem with their own specialties. What were the results of the chest CT? I don’t understand the report! Guangzhou Chest Hospital Tuberculosis Wen Wenpei: I looked at the chest CT film you sent over. Because the patient had tuberculosis as a child, he now has scar shadows of old tuberculosis (i.e., as described in the CT). It is estimated that the patient does not have active tuberculosis (i.e., no tuberculosis now). As for the red and painful lump on the knee, it is recommended that a surgical needle aspiration biopsy be performed if the diagnosis is not clear from the present investigations, which may help to clarify the diagnosis. How is the patient’s eye redness now? Has it improved? If so, it may be simple conjunctivitis. If it has not improved, it may be an allergic tuberculosis, and anti-tuberculosis treatment is needed to eliminate the hidden tuberculosis sensitizer. Patient: Thank you, Director Wen, the symptoms of eye red drops are basically good, just when the foot appeared such a problem, and eye red with the quite scary, foot compresses are basically good most of the traditional Chinese medicine, not swollen, and now can not find the problem can only be observed for a period of time and then say it. Finally, thank you again for the patience of the director of the answer!