positive TB test

[wizardfitz 13]

My fiance in China received a positive test and started her medicine in april. she said they do test every month and the chest xray shows it's gone, but they are still making her do the 6 month treatment.

is there any way to shorten or cancel the medicine. they are very strong and toxin to the liver?

any help would be appreciated.

there is no way around this unfortunately, once you test positive for it, she will have to finish the 6 month tx course, hiring a lawyer is a waste of money, she will not be allowed to enter unless they are positive she does not have active tb

[JD63 4]

I've only read briefly about the protocol for treatment. I don't know if they do cultures monthly. I do know that a culture can take a long time to grow. It can show positive signs of the bacteria within weeks, but it takes two full months before they can conclude it's negative. The scenario where the smears are positive but the cultures are negative would generally mean they see bacteria on the slide, but it either doesn't grow in the culture (it's inactive) or it's a bacteria other than TB. In that case, the panel physician uses their "clinical judgment" to decide whether or not to continue treatment.

There is always a serious risk when you stop a treatment program involving antibiotics. The early stages of treatment usually kill off the weaker strains of the bacteria. If you stop treatment at that stage then you leave the more virulent strains of the bacteria to flourish. Having survived the initial treatment, the new infection is often much more difficult to treat because it develops a resistance to the drugs, which means the physician has to use more potent drugs with potentially more harmful side effects to treat it.

If you decide to stop treatment then the panel physician is not going to clear your fiancee to travel to the US. She will be classified inadmissible. The upside is that the drugs will no longer be doing potential damage to her organs. The downside is that the infection could return with a vengeance, and could require longer treatment with stronger drugs. However, if you are really convinced that the drugs are doing damage to her kidneys then you should consult with a physician who has experience with TB. You need qualified advice from someone who understands the risk and can help you make a decision. Just understand that if you pull the plug on treatment then she's not coming to the US.

Cultures take 12-14 days to grow, then additional time for drug sensitivity testing, even then it's only about 80% sensitive in diagnosing active cases.

[chinalover 0]

thanks everyone for your opinion. i will tell her to finish off the meds. looks like that is the safest and best way to proceed to avoid any future complications.

thanks again for your help.

[Anh map 2,098]

Stopping in the middle of the course of TB drugs may have dire consequences. And yes, it's very important for your SO to have periodic blood tests to watch any potential damage to the liver and other organs.

Stopping part way through may lead to development of a drug resistant strain of TB. My two brothers in law (early 20's) stopped part way through their inital meds. Both developed the drug resistant strain. Sadly we recently lost one of them as a result.

Please keep your SO's health paramount in your thoughts. The trade off is not worth it.

Best of luck to you both.

[BelleSade 3]

Is hers active or dormant? Can a person be denied with dormant TB?

I wouldn't dump the meds, if it's active you want this out of her.

(Sorry, at work and haven't been able to read all posts)

[chinalover 0]

the sputum smear is positive, but the culture came back negative

Is hers active or dormant? Can a person be denied with dormant TB?

I wouldn't dump the meds, if it's active you want this out of her.

(Sorry, at work and haven't been able to read all posts)

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Cultures take 12-14 days to grow, then additional time for drug sensitivity testing, even then it's only about 80% sensitive in diagnosing active cases.

The CDC protocol requires a specimen to be cultured a minimum of six weeks before it can be reported negative, though it can be reported positive as soon as the results are known. Page 7 of the CDC Technical Instructions for Panel Physicians:

http://www.cdc.gov/immigrantrefugeehealth/pdf/tuberculosis-ti-2009.pdf

There is no 100% reliable method of diagnosing tuberculosis, but a sputum culture is considered the only method that provides a definitive diagnosis. A diagnosis made by any other method can only be considered "probable" or "presumed". From the Wikipedia article on tuberculosis diagnosis.

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