Girl dies after doctors miss TB

The tuberculosis bacterium: TB is on the increase

An investigation has begun after a teenage girl died from tuberculosis when she was wrongly diagnosed and sent home from hospital.

Dominique Francis, 16, from Leyton, east London, died in January after being readmitted when her condition worsened.

Her family believes that if she had been diagnosed with TB earlier her life could have been saved.

Managers at Whipps Cross University Hospital have apologised for any "failings" in her care.

Worsening

The schoolgirl was first diagnosed with pneumonia and she was discharged with antibiotics after four days.

She was back 15 days later with signs of worsening pneumonia and was forced to wait eight hours in casualty before being seen by a doctor.

After a test for TB was positive, her condition worsened and she died.

Paul Thomas, the medical director at Whipps Cross, said: "Dominique was suffering from two serious infections.

"The first of these was the relatively-common community-acquired pneumonia and the second was TB.

"Clinicians did not diagnose the TB on the first admission.

"The trust would like to apologise to Dominique's family for any failings in her care."

TB increasing

Health officials said although Dominique had a non-infectious form of TB, all her close contacts were being followed up and tested as a precaution.

Her death came just weeks after experts warned of a shortage of key staff to treat TB in hospitals across the UK.

The British Thoracic Society says the number of cases of TB have risen by 80% in the last ten years, with London being a "hot-spot" for the disease.