Acute lung injury caused by ethambutol

Abstract

We describe the case of a woman presenting with fever, dyspnea, and hypoxemia, who had taken isoniazid, rifampin, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol under the diagnosis of tuberculosis. Her clinical and radiological presentations were of acute lung injury, which was confirmed by lung biopsy. At that time, a possible connection between acute lung injury and ethambutol was postulated. Her symptoms rapidly improved only two days after discontinuation of antituberculous drugs. Isoniazid, rifampicin, and pyrazinamide were resumed without any recurrence of acute lung injury. We report a case of acute lung injury induced by ethambutol with a brief review of the literature.