Treatment and Management of Latent Tuberculosis Infection in Lethargic Patient

A 20-year-old Asian immigrant female medical student presented to a health clinic with a four months history of lethargic feeling and occasional cough at night. Her Past Medical History revealed tuberculosis and discontinued treatment prior to 24 weeks due to lack of health care awareness. Discontinuing treatment prior to completion can leave patients infectious and symptomatic [1]. A chest x-ray (CXR) was done in this patient and revealed elevation of the left hilum and minimal fibrocavitary changes in the immediate left infraclavicular area [2-4]. A Tuberculin Skin Test (TST) was placed which resulted in a 9 mm induration. Per hospital protocol, sputum specimens were collected for acid fast stain-culture and resulted in negative Acid Fast Bacilli (AFB) from pooled sample.