tuberculosis fun

[bnolsen]

We switched our daughter to a new doctor and recently did a 4 year checkup. Because we went to shanghai in fall 2009 for a month the doctor decided to test her for TB. She came out borderline (~10mm), good xray.

 

Okay, so skin test the rest of us. My 1yr old son and myself came out negative.

 

Wife came out positive. Her xray was good, but a further quantiferon test came out positive.

 

She's been here 5.5 years, she's 39. My mother has had active TB when she was little but has always refused treatments. My wife is worried about treatment, her father died of liver cancer when she was young, etc.

 

Any experiences with this?

[Randy W]

Some information for civil surgeons that may or may not pertain to your case -

 

Some who have received the BCG vaccinations in China may register a false positive for TB - http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/tuberculosis/DS00372/DSECTION=tests-and-diagnosis

 

An interesting update Oct., 2009 -

To fulfill the requirement of testing for cell-mediated immunity to TB, civil surgeons may now administer an interferon gamma release assay (IGRA) or a TST. Interferon gamma release assays are blood tests that measure a component of cell-mediated immune reactivity to Mycobacterium tuberculosis in fresh whole blood. CDC allows the use of QuantiFERON-TB Gold®, QuantiFERON®-TB Gold In Tube (QFT-G IT), and T-SPOT®. The civil surgeon should administer only one type of test for cell-mediated immunity (TST, QuantiFERON-TB Gold®, QuantiFERON®-TB Gold In Tube [QFT-G IT], or T-SPOT®) to each applicant.

 

http://www.cdc.gov/immigrantrefugeehealth/exams/ti/civil/civil_tb_ti_2009_update_interferon_option.html

[bnolsen]

The quanteferon test doesn't give false positives with the vaccine. The doctor is running a hepatitis panel since her father died of liver cancer and her oldest sister and mother had hepatitis 'b', and she was sick with something that kept her out of school for one month when she was little. We'll wait for the results and decide what to do then.