Positive TB test

[yailukmuu 26]

You make some good points—there is no absolute way to prove that there is no scamming that occurs. We all know that the Philippines, and in fact America’s medical system is at many levels what I’d call gray-zone scamming. What I mean by this is the fact that statistically one can prove that some hospitals have inordinately high levels of certain surgeries.

Often what happens is that to maintain the level of credentials the hospital MUST have x number of certain surgeries, fall below this limit and the entity loses credentials and an insurance company will no longer pay for that surgery there.

Another common American scam is looking at Caesarian Section births. Per 1000 births some hospitals will have very low levels—others consistently very high. Both are statistically provable and both—get away with it. So, looking back one must assume that if the hospital needed 10 a year to maintain credentials, that may be a bad place to go if you happen to have an issue that "might" need surgery.

I’m quite sure that like Philippine Telcoms, Philippine electcic companies, water companies and so forth hospitals too are, as they are, I firmly believe, in the US—under the thumb of profit seeking entities.

The mere fact that I can by Benicar (a blood pressure med that I use) from Singapore, made by Cipla who probably makes the branded Benicar anyway, for about ½ of what my insurance company charges as a co-pay. C’mon—the same exact med (and btw—Cipla is the largest pharmaceutical manufacture, I think, in the world) including shipping half way around the world, for ½ of the co-pay. If that’s not a form of fraud I don’t know what is. I could go on and on like the drug company that fought the allowance of a statin to become generic simply by putting a slower dissolvable coating on it. That’s like McDonald’s patenting the hamburger because their billion in research showed that the lettuce must go next to the bun, lest the bun get soggy.

Is fraud, especially gray-zone (read control/exclusivity/price fixing, ect) a possibility. Is there a possibility of fraud by a doctor declaring someone a risk when there are no risk factors—not in America, no doctor, no nurse that I’ve ever met would do this—ever. Might it occur in the Philippines, maybe but I still doubt it. You, of course, are entitled to a different opinion.

Why might St. Luke’s be exclusive? Simply because the hospital must comply with US laboratory regulations, this includes round-robins of lab samples where blanks and seemingly + samples which are in reality negative, and + samples are sent from hospital to hospital and entities must consistently get them correct. Also specific QA/QC protocols must be followed. The difficulty and cost of this procedural requirement probably makes it such that other hospitals really don’t want to bother. It’s a limited market. Go to one and find the lab director and ask—that would be interesting.

So, are they capable of screening for TB? Of course. Heck, give me a day in any hospital lab and I can make you capable of reading, at least, heavily loaded sputum. Under a scope it looks like bunches of hot dogs—simple. Yes, you or I might miss 10% by not doing things exactly as required, and you and I might occasionally create false positives because there is a bacterial or fungal thing going on and we might mis-read it as mycobacterium tuberculosis when it’s something else. Will you or I get 100% correct results on round-robin slide? No way. I've studied pathological microbiology and my professor fooled us over and over--it really does take a high level of training and expertise to achieve >99% proficiency.

Perhaps a more appropriate way to look at this is the question: Does the TB portion of the exam cost more than it would elsewhere? That I don’t know maybe you are correct—what does it cost?

Having gone through the entire process frankly I don’t even remember what it cost. I do remember thinking, wow…that’s cheap. The K-1 medical exam in America would exceed $3,000. A single vaccination might be $80-200.

But ok, maybe you are correct. After all, the Phil Telcoms are indeed monopolies make calling RP one of the most expensive places to call on earth, using a 3^rd party VOIP I can call China or Thailand for one cent a minute, while calling RP costs me 12 cents, that is 12x what Thailand cost. So you are correct, when competition is stifled, when monopolies are created everyone loses, except of course the 100 families that comprise the elite rich in the Philippines.

Hey, America has a plethora of anti-trust laws, see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law:

If you believe that this creates a monopoly read up on it—it is possible that the right complaint to the right department might end up with other hospitals going online with the US TB program. In my lifetime I’ve seen notable monopoly break-ups due to government action, most notably “Ma Bell.” (Prior to ~1980 or so, essentially there was on telco in America, now there are many).

Good luck and I'm not being cynical with that.

Edited February 16, 2014 by yailukmuu

[marie27 0]

Hi! She will only undergo medication if her sputum culture is positive.

Some have negative sputum result (initial) but within or on the 2 months culture, got a positive result. If found positive, your mom will receive a call from SLEC.

Just pray that all sputum results are clear/negative.

By the way, I am undergoing TB treatment at SLEC as my sputum results were positive.

Good luck to your mom!

Hi. Where did you live in Manila during the treatment? Do you know any apartments for rent close to the clinic?

I think i might undergo the treatment since,they called me today for pulmonary reevaluation. This thing is so hard. Can you i get your email please.

CONGRATS btw youre done with the treatment.

GODBLESS

[Casey_Ana 7]

Hi. Where did you live in Manila during the treatment? Do you know any apartments for rent close to the clinic?

I think i might undergo the treatment since,they called me today for pulmonary reevaluation. This thing is so hard. Can you i get your email please.

CONGRATS btw youre done with the treatment.

GODBLESS

Hi Marie... I sent you a private message for my email address. I will be glad to be of help to you.

Talk to you soon.

[yailukmuu 26]

It's possible that she could be positive for a skin test, and negative for the sputum. That would suggest that she had TB before, but it's dormant and doesn't have an active infection.

They don't rely on the PPD because so many Filiipinos were given the BCG vaccination. And for those, false positives are very common. So while the skin test (PPD) is reliable in the US, it is not considered reliable in the Phils.

A negative sputum test with positive symptoms such as fever, night sweats and other indicators can sill get you flagged for TB. TB can manifest itself in the lymphatic system, the genital system and the digestive system as well as others. So it is possible that an honest answer about symptoms could set off further investigation.

The wait can be a hassle, but consider that you'll solve the problem and that is worth the wait, even if it doesn't feel that way.

TB is the #6 cause of death in the Phils.

[bowens44 213]

I realize that this post is several months but I am hoping to get some advice. My fiancee just received a call from SLEC after only 5 weeks of the culture test so we are expecting the worst. I am looking for advice on how or where to find a reasonably priced , safe apartment for her while she goes through the treatment.

Please send me a private message if you have suggestions....or reply here of course

[luckytwo15 13]

How can you be positive and negative at the same time?

If she has positive results then she will go through the 6 month program.

If she is negative then she won't undergo the 6 month program.

There are some instances that if a family member living with her or she has been in contact everyday has TB then she will receive a 6 month prophylactic drug called Isoniazid. So far though I haven't heard anyone here in the forum having to go through that. It is either your result is positive or negative.

The reason she was called back is because her X-ray might have some "probable" TB and not positive. To determine positive TB they do sputum test (results released after 8-10 weeks) then if tested positive then and only then will medication start.

Hope this helps and also good luck to your mom.

SLEC does 3 initial sputums tests to determine if TB positive. Two of the samples can be negative and the third one positive. SLEC will not talk about false-positive. If it is an error, well then the person is doing DOT.

[luckytwo15 13]

Initially there are 3 sputum samples collected over 3 days. This occurs sometime around a week or so after the initial x-ray shows signs of past or present TB. Those samples are used to determine if the suspected case is in fact TB. It only takes one of those samples to go positive for the case to be classified as TB positive. We received our call from SLEC about 3 weeks after the sputum collection.

After positive determination, SLEC does a series of 3 sputum tests during the 6 month DOT process. Each test is 2 samples. The final 2 sputum samples are collected at the end of the 5th month of DOT. Those are taken over 2 days, 24 hours apart. That culture will marinade for 2 months. The DOT is weekdays at SLEC and they're closed on weekends and holidays. There's a return trip required at the end of the 7th month to get the final sputum results, redo medical and to get the treatment paperwork.

It's a 9 month process from the point of X-ray detection. That's if all goes well.

[Kzac 0]

Do you get call or email if you have positive tb within 2months?

 

[Hank_ 9,171]

2 hours ago, Kzac said:

Do you get call or email if you have positive tb within 2months?

 

You resurrected a 6 year old topic, not sure anyone from back then is around anymore.

 

SLEC will call you.

[ajpap17 0]

12 hours ago, Kzac said:

Do you get call or email if you have positive tb within 2months?

 

Yes I've heard that they will call you if your sputum culture results are positive. Some are called just 2 weeks, others 3 weeks to start treatment. If they cannot contact you they will email you to your official email account you provided to St. Lukes. But there are cases that they call in six weeks for extension of culture but result is  Negative just like me. If you dont  receive any calls from SLEC within 2 months then  chances are you are negative and your for immunization.

[bowens44 213]

On 2/16/2014 at 10:27 AM, RonnieKris said:

You're still missing the point. Nowhere did I mention TB was not serious, my point was, IMHO St. Luke's is scamming or could be scamming the US declaring somone has TB that does not -possibly for profit. "No, its not a scam". How do you know? You don't, and to make that statement is irresponsible.

 

What is irresponsible is suggesting that it is a scam  with no evidence at all....

[Crazy Cat 39,191]

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