Please help!! - TB Test 17mm - Positive?

jpol

Registered Users (C)
My husband and I both had medicals done over a year back for the 485 application. We both had X-Rays taken which the doctor (from the INS approved clinic) said was clear and gave us a SEALED packet.

However just recently my husband had a TB skin-test done due to a prolonging cough problem. Our regular physician says that its positive because it was 17mm. He is conducting further tests now and says that he will prescribe an antibiotic for 6 months.

I don\'t understand, the X-Ray did not show any problems but the physician says that it is likely to be TB. Anyone with similar problems please post.
 
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Hi,

Than you should consider lucky to have a negative TB medical report for INS. Just think of the implications. Wouldn\'t it affect your GC processing.

Hope things get better.
 
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Skin test Positive and X-Ray negative is very common for Asians. I have a same one, and a few of my friends too. You need not worry. One skin test is positive, he will always be positive for the skin test any time in his life time. However, taking the medication for 6 months, which will kill the bacteria is better. On the whole, you need not worry,it won\'t affect your health or chances.
 
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JPol,

Don\'t worry. The skin test most commonly shows positive for Asians but the chest X-rays show nothing. Some doctors may not aware of this very fact the commonly for asians the skin test results as positive. Most likely he may have been infected with a early state of TB virus in some part of his life but the body fought the virus and it may be just dormant. Hence the TB skin test detects the dormant virus. However, there no reason to worry at all.

It is a very good idea, however, to take the medication for 6 months (most likely they may recommend Isoniazid) . The reason it is recommended is that as you grow older, there a chance that the dormant TB virus may get activated. This medicine effectively suppresses that. Every month the medicine is taken, he should get his livers checked via a blood test for any inflamation. The prolonged cough may be due to various reasons as well i.e; it could be allergies causing chest congestion that causes whopping cough among other things.

Again don\'t be worried. Hope this helps.

Bhanu
 
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Agree with Bhanu. No offending, but It\'s bacteria though. Also there is no guarantee after taking the doses that you won\'t get full blown TB in the future. I, hoping on the fact that I am an Asian ( and TB is probably native to countries like mine), personally would not take the medicine, but would keep an eye on my health, taking regular X-Rays once a year, at least (also don\'t over-expose to X-rays, either). This is my 2 cents ....
Though don\'t worry!
 
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jpol,

I must tell you to ask your Husband to take this TB case very seriously.... Over a year ago, My spouse\'s skin test was positive and was advised to take INH (the antibiotic you have mentioned) for six months. Thinking that all people from India will always get a positive skin test (due to administration of BCG at birth), we took it lightly and spouse never took the medication.

Around six months ago, my spouse had a cough. This cough went on for over four months. Finally in March, spouse was diagnosed with an Advanced case of Active TB - One whole lung was badly effected and spouse is currently taking 5 antibiotics (16 tablets a day). This medication will go on for next one year.

Just a word of caution... I hope your husband feels better, but we have been through worse for not taking this seriously.

Take Care...
 
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The fact that you have 17mm reaction is by definition "POSITIVE" ppd. I think that is what your doctor is saying. But based on the country you were born and grew up in, exposure to TB virus is determined. Obviously in south asia, people are likely to be exposed to the virus and hence the system would have developed immunity for the virus via production of antibodies which stay in the blood stream. The presence of the antibodies is what makes the skin test positive.

However, your doctor, as you have mentioned has recommended other tests to confirm/rule out the diagnosis of TB. So I think you should wait until the other test results are in and then make decisions. You can also take a second opinion if you like.

Good Luck
 
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I agree with Bhanu.
Even I have the TB positive and X-ray negative. I am taking medication for 9 months. There is no side effect by taking this medication. I do not pay even a penny for this medication.
 
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Jpol:
When I noticed your message on this board I could not ignore it for the fact that, when you take the skin test the first time there are antibodies formed in the blood stream bascially as an immune mechanism. And again within some period like within a year if you take the same test again, the postiveness shows up because of the antibodies that were formed as a result of your first test are hanging around to reveal that, and that can also be interpreted as positive for TB. So you should mention to your physican that you had taken a same test previously and there is not much time has elapsed since your previous test, so they should not base their diagnosis on this test alone and give presciption they should conduct further confirmatory test to actually nail the existence of the TB bacteria( Bacillus Turberculosis).

X-ray only reveals when after infection there are spots on the lung area, but that is later stages also X-ray is relative you acutally have to see two or three x-rays over some period of months to compare to actually see that there is a change, and taking xray once will not detect anything it only shows patches if any and that\'s what the radiaologists for INS looks for.

I would suggest to calm down and tell your physican the whole history and it is important for him to know that you had taken the test quite recently because I know of cases where a large swelling occured to my friend who had taken this test in succession ( perhaps over 1 year period) but he did not have TB it was the antibodies that cause swelling. He should not base everything on this test alone which might even be false.

Hope this helps
 
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Chutney: Please note that both of us had not taken the TB skin-test a year back. Instead only had an X-Ray taken. The X-Ray and other results were clear and sent along with the 485 application.

It was only last week due to persistent cough problems that my husband had the TB skin-test done which was positive
 
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Skin test will result positive for many Asians.
Persistent cough could also occur for many Asians due to lactose in milk and milk products.
 
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Jpol,

another important note: Once you have skin test taken, you should NOT take skin test again within next 10 years (at least) or else, according to my doctor, you may have dangerous skin complications.

Bhanu
 
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Agree with Bhanu\'s end note.

I had been tested +ve for skintest 3 years back.
So when I did my medical for the 485 purpose, I specifically told them that I had this skin test done a while ago and the physician had cautoned me that i will test +ve for the skintest and NOT to do skin tests again...so i went ahead and and took Xrays. For my wife also, XRay was taken and not the skin test.
 
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jpol: So you did not take the skin test this was your first skin test which is also called as PPD. Lot of people of south Asia show positve to this test but are immune? that is the first statement. Having said that to confirm one has TB based on this test is not sufficient. And ofcourse X-ray will not reveal the presence of bacteria anyway it gives a picture that you have to interpret which is also not a confirmatory test.

Next thing does your husband get sputum when he coughs ( this is coming from the respiratory system to mouth) if this happens then there is a probability. But the ultimate test is take that sputum and have it examined for the presence of the Bacillus Tuberculosis, basically a culture would reveal that, I would insist infact three such test be done at different intervals to confirm when all of them reveal positive then I would conclude that this is a case of TuberCulosis and start treatment for it.

The reason for this long statement is the cases reported by AMA on TB in the United States are very low, unless you have just come to USA from India and have still the Indian biosystem in your body I would not suspect TB for coughing this easily and also the treatment may not be for the right cause.

Hope this helps
 
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Most Asians do test positive for TB when doing a skin test and there is nothing to worry about... A friend of mine who is a doctor told this to me even before I knew that I had to take a test for applying 485. Of course it is good to conduct more tests to make sure everything is fine.
 
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Chutney: Pleurisy attacks around Nov/Dec time over two consecutive years is the problem that he has been having along with dry cough. The doctors have taken the sputum and are keeping it in the lab for 2 weeks and conducting tests for the bacteria. Some say that "mold" and "allergens" in the Bay Area causes such problems over time. We have been here for 6 years now.
 
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jpol: Yes ! I have friends in the Bay area( and Southern California LA) around ages 30 - 35 male Indians who have developed this sort of allergy which is bascially because of the environment in LA it was the smog ( constant exporsure over period of time ) and in Bay area it was the winds bringing spores of the pines from further North.

Again its the same in the East Coast also I live in NJ even here the environment has changed since I came here, there is a tendency to become allergic these days.

But what I refuse to believe is if a patient happens to be from South Asia and coughs somebody attibutes it to TB which means they are ignoring the surroundings. I am glad you are getting examined and hopefully it would turn out to to be something simple.

Hope this helps
 
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take positive tests seriously. this a bacterium, micobacterium tuberculosis, not a virus.
in usa more research is being done on tb eventhough indians other asians have greater prevalence of disease; aids virus is making american prople more susceptible to tuberculosis and the incidence is spiking up here. hence lot of research and treatment guidelines are comingforth in the last decade in the usa.
 if in doubt take a second opinion from an \' infectious diseases\' specialist. (available in any big city)
 
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Goc,
This is something new I am learning. Where did you get information that lactose in the milk and milk products causes Persistent cough.
Please elaborate...

Thanks for any info.
 
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