Tb Testing

[benjamat]

My wife has just finished 6 month treatment for TB (maybe) now in 10 days she must take a sputum test to confirm all clear.

Can anyone offer some help on diet and activities she can do which will help alleviate the possibility of a false positive in this test. Sadly false positives are all too common.

many thanks.

[Mossfinn]

My wife has just finished 6 month treatment for TB (maybe)

Just remember it is rare, if a patient has followed the appropriate course, for TB still to be active afterwards.

Can anyone offer some help on diet and activities she can do which will help alleviate the possibility of a false positive in this test.

I was never advised on dietary requirements.

Sadly false positives are all too common.

??

Who has advised you of this statement? As far as I am aware they are not common, but I am open to being educated otherwise, I was the opposite, a false negative and the Medics were quite amazed, considering the battery of tests I went through.

Good Luck

Moss

[benjamat]

Thanks,

I guess just normal healthy diet then.

As far as false negatives in test are concerned it is just my trawling of the web.

I have seen several quotes of mixed up samples and badly carried out tests though dont know what % these might be.

Just a little paranoid haviong waited 9 months already to apply for my wifes visa.

[Dakhar]

Thanks,

I guess just normal healthy diet then.

As far as false negatives in test are concerned it is just my trawling of the web.

I have seen several quotes of mixed up samples and badly carried out tests though dont know what % these might be.

Just a little paranoid haviong waited 9 months already to apply for my wifes visa.

A 6 month course of INH is administered for a person that has a POSITIVE skin test, and a negative chest x-ray and a negative sputom test. In this scenerio the person has latent TB (which I have).

The INH is suposed to kill the inactive TB within the body and prevent the chances of "active TB" from ever occuring.

A 9-12 month course of multiple antibiotics are given to those with "active TB" meaning that they are:

1) physically ill from TB

2) Positive chest x-ray

3) Positve skin Test

4) Positve Sputom test

My point is, if your wife, girfreind took INH for 6 months, this would indicate that she has latent TB and there should be no concern of having a positive sputom test after 6 months administration of INH.

Also, she very well could have taken INH for no reason if she never tested with the Quanti Feron Gold blood test. Most if not all people that have been vacinated for TB will test positive for TB via a skin test. For these poeple, the Quanti Feron Gold test should be used to determine if TB is present or not.

But back to your original question regarding false positive sputom tests... I believe this is only for DNA/PCR sputom tests after administration of antibiotics. I doubt seriously they will do a DNA/PCR test, I imagine they will do a AFB test and those are very inacurate to begin with, meaning false negatives occur not false positives.

Regardless, if she has been cared for appropriately and she survived 6 months of brutal antibiotics.... I think you folks are home free.

[benjamat]

Thank you so much Dakhar,

I feel much easier now.

It is worrying though that she had to go through such an intensive treatment process with potentially harmfull effects because the only authorised clinic for certification does not do the Quanti Feron Gold blodd test. (we asked about it) Iom has a monopoly on this.

Many thanks again for the clarification.

Michael.

[benjamat]

Having finishes the what we thought was final 8 week soutum test following six months treatment we have now been told that my wife must have a further set of 3 sputum tests on consecutive days.

Can anyone tell me if this is normal, hours of trawling the web and I cannot find any set procedure or action list.

We are very worried and dont know what will happen next.

Many Thanks.

[benjamat]

This just gets worse and worse.

You can see from earlier posts that we have been waiting more than ten months already for my wife to get the paper for all clear.

She finished yet another test today ( 3 consecutive days sputum test ) She was told that she was free of tb BUT, she must now wait another 8 weeks and take another test to confirm all clear. Let me say again what tests and treatment she has had.

Skin test

X-Ray

3 day sputum test

8 week sputum test.

6 months course of treatment.

Another 8 week sputum test.

Another 3 day sputum test.

Now wait another 8 weeks and another test of I dont know what.

At no stage has she been diagnosed with active TB.

She was diagnosed with inactive TB which is present in 30% of the population.

The test showing inactive TB is notoriously unreliable and gives both false positives and negatives.

This sequence of events cannot be right, I have trawled the net and nowhere does it indicate this level of testing.

We still dont have the paper and dont know when we will get it. She has been told she is clear of TB but must wait in Thailand for another 8 weeks with the encumbant risk of contracting again before another test.

Help Anybody.