ABSTRACT
Addison’s disease is chronic adrenocortical insufficiency. Adrenocortical insufficiency (AI) could be due to congenital or acquiredcauses. Congenital causes include inborn defects of steroidogenesis, adrenal hypoplasia congenita, adrenoleukodystrophy,and familial glucocorticoid deficiency. Acquired causes include autoimmunity (Type 1 and 2 autoimmune polyendocrinopathy),infections such as tuberculosis and meningococcemia, drugs such as ketoconazole, rifampicin, phenytoin, and phenobarbitone,and hemorrhage into adrenals as a consequence of difficult labor, metastasis, amyloidosis, and surgical excision. Althoughautoimmunity is the major cause of AI in developed countries, infections like tuberculosis still remain an important cause indeveloping countries like India. Addison’s disease can be easily missed due to its presentation with non-specific symptoms. Serumcortisol levels can also be misleading due to variations in circadian rhythm and increase during stressful situations. Hence, strongclinical suspicion is the key to early diagnosis and treatment. We report here a case Addison’s disease secondary to tuberculosis.