tb skin test

[Dencio ♥ Mane 0]

what will they do if you will be positive for TB skin test? ive been assigned to different patients at the hospital so most likely im exposed to TB patients.. help pls?

[payxibka 10,045]

if i am not mistaken the followup for a possitive skin test is a chest x-ray

[Dencio ♥ Mane 0]

if i am not mistaken the followup for a possitive skin test is a chest x-ray

if the xray has normal chest findings youre cleared?

[웃 910]

if i am not mistaken the followup for a possitive skin test is a chest x-ray

if the xray has normal chest findings youre cleared?

I was around someone that had TB, so I decided to get a TB skin test. I went into the hospital on a Friday and I told the nurse that I was in close quarters to a girl with TB. Anyways, I took the TB skin test and was told to return the following Monday, if my area of injection was red, itchy, and big, then it meant I failed the test. Well....it was slightly red and flat (not raised) where I was injected, and it was really small. When I came in on that Monday morning it was the same nurse, she rubbed her fingers against the mark where I was injected and said right away, "you passed, you don't have anything". So then I "reminded" her about our conversation the previous Friday about my situation of being exposed to someone with TB. I said: "Is it strange for a person to live in a hotel with somebody that has TB and not catch it?" Apparently she forgot all about what I told her the previous Friday. She had already filled out my receipt and checked the box that said that I do not have TB. However, after I reminded her about my situation she said, "hold on, can I just check something real quick and make sure?"...So she took back my receipt and felt my arm more closely. She got out a measuring device and measured my mark at about 7 mm. To make a long story short, the rules of diagnosing TB are altogether different for a person that has never had known exposure to TB and a person that has had exposure to TB. So basically (in the United States, not sure about the Philippines) if you tell the nurse that you have been around people with TB then you automatically fail. She tried to tell me that I had inactive TB (the good kind). I was like wait a second, 2 minutes ago I was clear and now all of a sudden I have inactive TB (I knew I didn't have anything)? So she marked my TB test as having inactive TB and scheduled me for a chest x-ray to see if there was a mark on my lungs (the next step). So I returned for a chest x-ray and returned to see the Cardiologist for the results. Sure enough, my chest x-ray looked perfectly normal. So then the next step is they tell you that they don't know if you have inactive TB or not, but they recommend to take a pill every single day for 9 months just to be sure. I wasn't buying it, I was like---look, I first passed the skin test, then failed just because I uttered a few words, then I took a chest x-ray and it looked fine, what can I do to prove I don't have TB, is there any test I can take? The Cardiologist said there is a blood test that you can take (I forget what it is called), so I took that and sure enough I didn't have anything!

So to answer your question, if you fail the skin test but pass the chest x-ray I believe that you will be good to go. I have been told that in areas of high TB rates the doctors will medicate people that have active TB (people that fail the chest x-ray and/or sputum exam), but because so many people have the inactive type, the doctors will just turn those people with inactive TB away.

Good luck!

Edited January 19, 2009 by Confucian

[Dencio ♥ Mane 0]

if i am not mistaken the followup for a possitive skin test is a chest x-ray

if the xray has normal chest findings youre cleared?

I was around someone that had TB, so I decided to get a TB skin test. I went into the hospital on a Friday and I told the nurse that I was in close quarters to a girl with TB. Anyways, I took the TB skin test and was told to return the following Monday, if my area of injection was red, itchy, and big, then it meant I failed the test. Well....it was slightly red and flat (not raised) where I was injected, and it was really small. When I came in on that Monday morning it was the same nurse, she rubbed her fingers against the mark where I was injected and said right away, "you passed, you don't have anything". So then I "reminded" her about our conversation the previous Friday about my situation of being exposed to someone with TB. I said: "Is it strange for a person to live in a hotel with somebody that has TB and not catch it?" Apparently she forgot all about what I told her the previous Friday. She had already filled out my receipt and checked the box that said that I do not have TB. However, after I reminded her about my situation she said, "hold on, can I just check something real quick and make sure?"...So she took back my receipt and felt my arm more closely. She got out a measuring device and measured my mark at about 7 mm. To make a long story short, the rules of diagnosing TB are altogether different for a person that has never had known exposure to TB and a person that has had exposure to TB. So basically (in the United States, not sure about the Philippines) if you tell the nurse that you have been around people with TB then you automatically fail. She tried to tell me that I had inactive TB (the good kind). I was like wait a second, 2 minutes ago I was clear and now all of a sudden I have inactive TB (I knew I didn't have anything)? So she marked my TB test as having inactive TB and scheduled me for a chest x-ray to see if there was a mark on my lungs (the next step). So I returned for a chest x-ray and returned to see the Cardiologist for the results. Sure enough, my chest x-ray looked perfectly normal. So then the next step is they tell you that they don't know if you have inactive TB or not, but they recommend to take a pill every single day for 9 months just to be sure. I wasn't buying it, I was like---look, I first passed the skin test, then failed just because I uttered a few words, then I took a chest x-ray and it looked fine, what can I do to prove I don't have TB, is there any test I can take? The Cardiologist said there is a blood test that you can take (I forget what it is called), so I took that and sure enough I didn't have anything!

So to answer your question, if you fail the skin test but pass the chest x-ray I believe that you will be good to go. I have been told that in areas of high TB rates the doctors will medicate people that have active TB (people that fail the chest x-ray and/or sputum exam), but because so many people have the inactive type, the doctors will just turn those people with inactive TB away.

Good luck!

thank you so much!