Abstract
Infectious and Tuberculous pleural effusion in this manual will be treated in two separate chapters, but a common introduction is required owing to the strong similarities they may present at the beginning on a clinical level.
The different types of pleural effusions of infectious aetiology are Parapneumonic effusions, Tuberculous pleural effusion and Atypical pleuritis (often opportunistic infections in immunosuppressed patients).
The problems that usually occur in the management of the infectious pathology of the pleura are that the isolation of pathogens is not easy, and that the microbiological tests are not always requested or are only partially requested. An important diagnostic step that unfortunately is neglected in many hospitals is that of the differential cell count in the pleural fluid, which in effusions of infectious origin plays a decisive role in distinguishing with excellent approximation the effusions of tuberculous origin from the others. For this reason, we believe that the differential cell count of the pleural fluid is mandatory.
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Casalini, A.G. (2023). Introduction to Infectious and Tuberculous Pleural Effusion. In: Casalini, A.G. (eds) Practical Manual of Pleural Pathology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20312-1_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20312-1_7
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