Tuberculosis, again.

When I finished yesterday's blog on TB I really was not sure why I had chosen that topic.  I suppose it was because I had seen a couple of new TB cases yesterday.  

One of those was a 24 year old lady referred from an outlying health clinic.  She looked healthy but was recently diagnosed with HIV and had been coughing for 2 months.  I obtained a chest x-ray which was suspicious for TB.  We obtain 3 sputum samples over 24 hours looking for the TB bacteria.  She submitted her first sample yesterday and was to bring in 2 more this morning.  

While doing rounds this morning the nurse informed me she apparently started coughing up blood during the night and was brought back to the hospital this morning dead.  TB and HIV are deadly and we are reminded of that on a regular basis.