Older patients who have recurrent respiratory infections with no clear cause should be investigated for cystic fibrosis (CF), say Irish doctors who recently diagnosed an elderly woman with the condition.

A team from the Cork University Hospital Group report the case of the 65-year old woman to highlight the need to consider a CF diagnosis in older patients, who face a similar rate of respiratory-related deaths as those diagnosed in childhood.

The woman presented to hospital with a productive cough with green sputum, following a five-month history of URTIs requiring multiple antibiotic courses and hospital admissions, they write in BMJ Case Reports.

Other than intermittent episodes of sinusitis, her medical history was unremarkable.