Tuberculous parotitis: report of 3 cases

Tuberculous parotitis, particularly the diffuse form, is rare. I describe here three patients with diffuse tuberculous parotitis, two of whom presented with unilateral parotid swelling while the third had swellings of both glands. All had discharging sinuses. In two of the patients, the parotitis was associated with active pulmonary tuberculosis. In the patient with bilateral parotitis, the disease seemed to be confined to the glands. The diagnosis of tuberculosis was confirmed by the finding of tubercle bacilli in the lesion or the sputum. They all responded well to standard antituberculous drugs.