Monday, March 28, 2011

I just got a Tuberculosis test

I just got a Tuberculosis test?
i got the test about 4 1/2 hours ago. there is no bump and no swelling, just a red dot. i was wondering if it is still possible for it to swell and form a bump?
Respiratory Diseases - 8 Answers
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1 :
if you have TB yes, it is still possible, that is why they ask you to wait 48 to 72 hours for the read. It would be called a delayed reaction, it isn't likely, but it has been known to happen.
2 :
I think you're pretty much safe. I tested positive and it never stopped swelling. :( I had to take pills for 6 months.
3 :
i got positive TB before and had to have treatment. It took about a day for the bump to form. The sport is usually red regardless, but watch out for it tomorrow. If you notice any swelling, that means it's positive. Hope it comes back negative!!
4 :
Yes, the first redness is from being poked then if you have a reaction it will happen in a day or so...Thats why you have to have it checked 48-72 hours later..
5 :
It is still possible for it to swell. I recently got a tuberculosis test and the swelling started way after the test. However, if there is a bump, it does not automatically mean that you have tuberculosis, only a nurse or doctor can determine that.
6 :
Hey there, I just had that done like a week ago. It takes about 48 hours to be able to tell if you have a negatinve or positive reading. When i went in two days later it was a pink circl and there was a slight bump under the skin that they said was normal. You really can't know until you wait a few days. Just leave it alone and don't scratch or push on it. Some places tell you not too use that arm as much either, so no heavy lifting, lol. Hope I helped a little!
7 :
Yes, it's possible to swell yet. It won't necessarily mean you have TB. It could also mean you have latent TB and you may never get full-blown TB. No panicking, okay. Leave it to the pros. Good question.
8 :
Yes, that's why they check you two days later, to "read it." Be sure not to touch it/rub it; you can cause a false positive. After 24 hrs you can shower, let water run over it, but again, don't rub it. If it is positve when they check it, don't panic. TB is airborne...someone with it, has breathed on you, not intentionally, maybe like standing talking somewhere, like in a store. They are most likely not even aware they have it. If positive, you will be sent for a chest x-ray. If it shows positive, you will be put on medication taken every day for six months. You will still need to get a yearly x-ray, just to be on the safe side

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Thursday, March 24, 2011

what are the limits when we have sexual relationship with a partner who has tuberculosis

what are the limits when we have sexual relationship with a partner who has tuberculosis?

Respiratory Diseases - 4 Answers
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1 :
no saliva contact
2 :
Someone needs to wear a particle mask, I think. I would think a doctor would be a good person to ask.
3 :
go to CDC website for more info.
4 :
The person with TB is highly contagious until the sputum (saliva, spit) samples comes back negative from the lab. If the person with TB is going to a doctor regularly to follow the medicine properly, they know if their sputum is negative or not. If the sputum is still positive, then that person is highly contagious. In the hospitals, nurses must get fitted for a special TB mask that fits their face exactly. That is how seriously contagious this disease is

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Sunday, March 20, 2011

Can people with tuberculosis donate blood

Can people with tuberculosis donate blood?
For example someone who had tuberculosis and has had treatment.
Other - Health - 4 Answers
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1 :
good lord no.
2 :
I don't think TB is transmitted by blood. I'm not sure though.
3 :
oh no, they wont take you if you have been sick with anything
4 :
Nobody who is sick should donate blood. When you donate blood in the US, they are required by law to ask about certain diseases and syptoms and lifestyles and travels, but they are also required to ask about general health. If you told them you had TB, they wouldn't take your blood

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Wednesday, March 16, 2011

are there any special programs for people with tuberculosis

are there any special programs for people with tuberculosis?

Infectious Diseases - 1 Answers
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1 :
They don't need any special programs, once diagnosed they are treated with INH which is a lengthy treatment but then they recover.

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Saturday, March 12, 2011

help with class project on tuberculosis

help with class project on tuberculosis?
in science class, i have to do a project on tuberculosis. so... here are my questions: 1) what is really going on inside your body when you have it? 2) what are some symptoms? 3) are there certian parts of your house you can catch it? (ex. you can get ahletes foot in the locker rooms at school) 4)and can you give some facts that could help me? thxxx -jAcEy
Infectious Diseases - 1 Answers
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1 :
1.About 90% of those infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis have asymptomatic, latent TB infection (sometimes called LTBI), with only a 10% lifetime chance that a latent infection will progress to TB disease.[1] However, if untreated, the death rate for these active TB cases is more than 50%.[44] TB infection begins when the mycobacteria reach the pulmonary alveoli, where they invade and replicate within the endosomes of alveolar macrophages.[1][45] The primary site of infection in the lungs is called the Ghon focus, and is generally located in either the upper part of the lower lobe, or the lower part of the upper lobe.[1] Bacteria are picked up by dendritic cells, which do not allow replication, although these cells can transport the bacilli to local (mediastinal) lymph nodes. Further spread is through the bloodstream to other tissues and organs where secondary TB lesions can develop in other parts of the lung (particularly the apex of the upper lobes), peripheral lymph nodes, kidneys, brain, and bone.[1][46] All parts of the body can be affected by the disease, though it rarely affects the heart, skeletal muscles, pancreas and thyroid.[47] Tuberculosis is classified as one of the granulomatous inflammatory conditions. Macrophages, T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes and fibroblasts are among the cells that aggregate to form a granuloma, with lymphocytes surrounding the infected macrophages. The granuloma functions not only to prevent dissemination of the mycobacteria, but also provides a local environment for communication of cells of the immune system. Within the granuloma, T lymphocytes secrete cytokines such as interferon gamma, which activates macrophages to destroy the bacteria with which they are infected.[48] Cytotoxic T cells can also directly kill infected cells, by secreting perforin and granulysin. Importantly, bacteria are not always eliminated within the granuloma, but can become dormant, resulting in a latent infection.[1] Another feature of the granulomas of human tuberculosis is the development of abnormal cell death, also called necrosis, in the center of tubercles. To the naked eye this has the texture of soft white cheese and was termed caseous necrosis. If TB bacteria gain entry to the bloodstream from an area of damaged tissue they spread through the body and set up many foci of infection, all appearing as tiny white tubercles in the tissues. This severe form of TB disease is most common in infants and the elderly and is called miliary tuberculosis. Patients with this disseminated TB have a fatality rate near 100% if untreated. However, If treated early, the fatality rate is reduced to near 10%.[50 In many patients the infection waxes and wanes. Tissue destruction and necrosis are balanced by healing and fibrosis.[49] Affected tissue is replaced by scarring and cavities filled with cheese-like white necrotic material. During active disease, some of these cavities are joined to the air passages bronchi and this material can be coughed up. It contains living bacteria and can therefore pass on infection. Treatment with appropriate antibiotics kills bacteria and allows healing to take place. Upon cure, affected areas are eventually replaced by scar tissue.[49] 2. Chronic cough with blood-tinged sputum, fever, night sweats and weight loss. 3. No, there aren't certain places in the house you can catch it, not unless someone with tuberculosis is sneezing, or coughing in your house. 4. Just google it, look it up in wikipedia. But yeah um, there are vaccines for tuberculosis. Once you recover you have a 77% chance of getting it again and roughly a third of the world's population has been diagnosed with it

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Tuesday, March 8, 2011

What is multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB

What is multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB)?
How did it become resistant to anti-tuberculosis drugs in the first place?Â Which drugs did it become resistant to?Â
Respiratory Diseases - 2 Answers
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1 :
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by a germ called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is spread through the air when a person sneezes, coughs, or breathes. Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis is resistant to at least two of the main drugs used to treat TB-- isoniazid (INH), and rifampin. TB primarily attacks the respiratory system although it can attack other organs as well. The symptoms of TB include fever, night sweats, weight loss, chest pain, and coughing. Tuberculosis can become resistant if a patient is not treated long enough, doesn't take prescribed medications properly, or doesn't receive the right drugs.
2 :
TB is caused by germs spread from person to person.Both TB and resistant TB spread the same way. Germs are put into the area by a simple sneeze from a person with TB, and those germs can linger for hours. When you breath in these germs, you can become infected. MDR TB is resistant to at least 2 of the TB treating drugs, Isoniazid and Rifampicin. It also resistant to to any fluoroquinolone and at least 1 of three inject-able drugs Amikacin, Kanamycin, or Capreomycin. Resistance can occur when these drugs are misused mismanaged such as, when patients don't complete their full course of treatment, when health care providers provide the wrong type of treatment, when the supply is not affable, or when the drugs are of poor quality. Hope this helps

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Friday, March 4, 2011

What is Uterus tuberculosis? and what are the precautions one sould take

What is Uterus tuberculosis? and what are the precautions one sould take?

Women's Health - 1 Answers
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1 :
Tuberculosis is a disease caused by Bacillus Tuberculosis (or Bacillus of Coch), so it is actually an infection. It has killed millions in the past and today continuous to pose major problems in developing countries as well amongst immunosuppressed patients (such as HIV, cancer or receiving chemotherapy patients). It's most frequent loci of infection is the lungs but it can litteraly infect any part of the body. There is a series of antibiotics we use to fight back, problem is that the specific germ (others too) can put itself to a lithargic state and wait there innactive for many years (30-40) and wait for the opportunity (immunosupression) to rise and cause disease. Getting it is not all that easy- you need to come to close encounters with the person having it, and the only proven way of infection is by sputum and aerolized micro-drops comming from a patients with open bullae in their lungs. I as a medical student have been many times in rooms of patients with open bullae who were caughing up germs, but never turned positive on examination for the bacillus, meaning I haven't got it after all. Even if I did though, I wouldn't worry too much since for it to cause infection and disease I'd have to turn immunosupressed (which hopefully I won't, lol). Now, as far as uterus tuberculosis, I have never seen, herd or read anything about it. It wouldn't surprise me to see it happening, but I am not so sure that the environment of the uterus would allow it to grow (though the specific germ is acid-tollerant). In any case, finding tuberculosis in other places than the lungs most certainly means that the patient's immune system is compromised and that the disease has spread beyond control. This would be a very serious situation that would need immediate and in hospital attention. Now, if you had sex with a woman with uterus tuberculosis, would you get it? I am afraid I cannot give a certain answer; you probably wouldn't get it from there, but since she'd have that far progress of disease, she's very likelly to have open bullae in her lungs, so her mouth, even the air she breaths out is filled with the germ, so you might get it from there. In any case, even if you did get it, for you to get sick you'd have to become immunosupressed. If you tested positive for the germ (after a few weeks) your doctor may perscribe you with some antibiotics for precaution (therapy lasts several months though). But now I've gonne too far. If you did have such a close encounter with a known carrier of the disease, please refer immediatelly to your doctor for testing and advice. In any case... I hope I've been of attention. PS: For all of you docs around there, I know there's much more to it and I know uterus tuberculosis sounds very wierd, but still, I'm only saying what a non-MD could use

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Tuesday, March 1, 2011

what is significance of ascitic and pleural fluid ADA levels in diagnosis of tuberculosis

what is significance of ascitic and pleural fluid ADA levels in diagnosis of tuberculosis?

Medicine - 2 Answers
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1 :
ADA levels are positive predictors of whether a patient has tuberculosis or not. Usually the patient first presents with pleural effusion, and then some of the fluid is withdrawn for analysis. An ADA level of > 40 U/L indicates the patient probably has a tuberculosis infection that is causing pleural effusion.
2 :
Adenosine deaminase (ADA) is involved in the proliferation and differentiation of T lymphocytes. Live intracellular organisms, cause the activation of T lymphocytes. Hence with chronic intracellular organisms, ADA levels in pleural/ ascitic fluid will increase. The sensitivity and specificity for detection of tuberculous pleuritis with the use of ADA as a marker in the pleural fluid are each >90% (Roth BJ. Searching for tuberculosis in the pleural space. Chest 1999; 116:3-5). However, high levels of ADA in pleural fluid could be due to other reasons too. High levels of ADA have been associated with pleural fluid lymphocytosis, including malignant conditions (eg, adenocarcinomas, leukemias, and lymphomas) and collagen vascular diseases (eg, rheumatoid pleuritis and systemic lupus erythematosus. All these things would make the test not too useful in countries with low prevalence of tuberculous pleuritis. Also, high levels of ADA in pleural fluid should not be used per se, to start treatment against tuberculosis. To sum it up, ADA in pleural fluid/ ascitic fluid, is a very good indicator of tuberculous etiology. However, other tests are necessary for the final diagnosis

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