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First, thanks for all the awesome comments lately! I’ve really been enjoying writing this blog, but it is even more fun to get feedback from readers! Keep it coming!
Now, I have a story to tell on myself. You know that post I wrote the other day highlighting the crucial importance of that second TB test? Well, two short days after writing that post, guess what I did with my own child? I FORGOT to bring her in to have the doctor check her arm for a reaction to the TB test. At ten till twelve Saturday morning the wonderful nurse at my doctor’s office called me and said, “…uh, weren’t you going to bring her in?” Duh!
Since the nurse knows I’m an RN, she said it would be fine if I just peeked at it and made sure it was fine. “Oh, yeah, looks great… ” I said, looking casually at her arm. there had been not a smidge of reaction the day before so I was not expecting it to be any different now. I started to tell her I couldn’t even find the needle mark, but my voice trailed off because suddenly I spotted the needle mark, surrounded by a faint ring of pink. I ran my finger across it, and felt a small but definite area of puffy raised skin. Darn. A reaction.
The staff had been planning to leave the office at noon, but graciously waited while I got myself and the baby there. The doc agreed with my assessment, but suggested we give it one more look on Sunday to see if it went down or developed more. Sunday it looked a tad worse. Still only a small reaction– about 6 mm across measuring the induration (raised area) and 9 mm across when measuring the redness.
However, the official guidelines from the American Thoracic Society are:
5 mm or less — considered NOT a positive test.
5-10 mm – considered positive IF the individual is at high risk (has lived with person with active TB, has weakened immune system)
10 mm or larger — considered to have been exposed to TB and have a latent TB infection
Considering my daughter spent 4 months of her life in an Ethiopian orphanage, she is definitely considered to be high risk. So it’s a chest x-ray for her later this week, along with 9 (NINE) months of Isoniazide (INH). Plus, all 3 family members who went to Ethiopia to get the baby last summer will be getting TB tests later this week– just to be on the safe side. Ain’t life fun?
Thank you for sharing your story with me (and others). We got our baby girl from Ethiopia half a year ago. Recently we have discovered that our little girl has TB. And what’s even worse – she is also HIV positive. You ask an ironic question: “Ain’t life fun?” I wish she’d ONLY have TB.
I’m so sorry to hear about your daughter. Did she test negative in Ethiopia?
Mary
Yes, her test in Ethiopia was negative. But it was either a mistake or a falsification, cause she could not have been negative then. Only one test was made in Addis, a so called RST (Rapid spot test) which is similar to ELISA-test. Both of these are measuring antibodies. Positive PCR tests where made after a positive ELISA test back home.