Scared to death ...

[texasbartrambaby]

DH just found out that his territory manager's wife has tuberculosis. She was about to start a new job at the hospital and the tb scratch showed positive, followed with xrays that were also positive. The tm is now waiting on the result of his scratch. Problem is - tm and wife went to dinner with ALL of us, me the kids and dh one night and hung out about a month ago. They do not live here, but the tm has been down several times doing his job and dh and he go out to lunch, etc.

I am immune compromised - I have lupus/sle and although I choose not to medicate, I am still at risk. DH is at risk because he has severe allergies. We are both on pins and needles here - praying and hoping that we and the children are not exposed. Our youngest gave us a scare last week (we thought she broke her arm) so she was xrayed including her chest and there was nothing, so that is good. However, I am worrying because about a week or so ago I started getting bad night sweats. Very strange - but I also have a wisdom tooth that is needing to come out so????

Please pray for us - I am soooo worried!

 

[cw]

do you know what strand of tuberculosis it is? i believe some aint even tramittible, but well keep our fingers crossed

 

[Camelot Farms]

Oh, I am sorry that you are going through this.

I am reasonably sure that if she had the very very spreadable kind that she and her etnire household would be in quarantine and the public health department would be all over this.

Be sure to let us know how things are going.

 

[Dar]

just because it came back positive does not mean that it is active.....

it could mean she was exposed to it which is why it has shown on her scratch test, OR if she was born outside the US or Canada, the vaccine they give people when they come into the country will make a scratch test come back positive too...

as for the x-rays.. it could be scarring on her lungs from anything.... wait for the swabs to come back.....

I agree public health would be all over this if there was a danger go to your doctor if you are really concerned.

was she coughing and sneezing at dinner?..was she visibly sick?

TB is transmitted via droplets so if she did not sneeze on you or cough on you, cough or sneeze into her hand and then not wash i could go on forever.. take a deep breath...

 

[kagedgoddess]

my dh got tb when he was in high school. no one near him got it and ya know high school boys arent the most hygennic of ppl. anyways, he was on drugs for almost a year i think but he s fine now. he will always have a positive test though. its just not active. so dont worry too much and good luck on your tests. dh says the drugs they give you make you really sick, so...

for you!

 

[key west chick]

Take a deep breath! TB, while contagious, is not easily caught. You need prolonged, close contact with someone. Chances are, you guys are fine.

 

[gritsar]

My mom had positive TB tests her entire life. Follow-up x-rays showed no TB. It was just the way it was.

 

[ranchhand]

I assume you will all be getting tested?

I worked very closely with an elderly gentleman with TB for 6 years, and never tested positive. So relax a bit, get tested and the night sweats could easily be from something else.

 

[cassie]

My mother tested positive for TB all of her life. She did not have TB.

 

[shelleyd2008]

I always have positive skin tests for TB, I just get some kind of reaction to the medicine they inject under the skin. An x-ray is the follow-up to a positive TB test, and if they say she has TB after having the x-ray, I would assume that she does in fact have it.

I hope that you and your family get tested for it