Spinal Tuberculosis

A 23-year-old young woman who was previously healthy presented to our medicine outpatient department with a 1year history of lower back pain that now inhibited her activities of daily living. She lives in a village near a river bordering Southern Angola with her mother and sister where she was referred to our center by the local clinic. She has no other systemic complaints. The pain was described as a persistent dull aching pain that does not radiate but is associated with a growing mass or deformity in the lumbar region, as well as weakness in her lower limbs. She had no history of trauma and no familial history of malignancy. She reported unintentional weight loss, night sweats, and loss of appetite over the last 6 months. She denied any history of cough. She had no urinary or bowel incontinence.