Atypical tuberculous pleural effusions

Typically, a tuberculous pleural effusion is submassive, unilateral, and has the appearance of a clear straw coloured fluid with a cellular content predominantly consisting of lymphocytes. Atypical characteristics of tuberculous pleural effusion do, however, need to be recognised to mitigate the risk of delayed diagnosis, the latter sometimes resulting in potentially avoidable deaths, and also to reduce the risk that untreated patients might transmit the disease.