Document resource
In 2014, a female patient in her 80s presented with an ongoing productive cough and wheeze. Despite a recent course of antibiotics, symptoms persisted. She was given a further course of antibiotics for community-acquired pneumonia. Patient had reported recent weight loss due to which an outpatient CT of the chest, abdomen and pelvis was arranged to rule out malignancy. TB recurrence was not suspected as no red flag symptoms such as night sweats, fever, chills, haemoptysis or anorexia were present. Her appetite was preserved, and she gained 0.2 kg per week after dietetic input. The patient reported symptomatic improvement with the additional antibiotics. This clinical response is inconsistent with TB reactivation, which would not be expected to resolve with standard antibiotic therapy.