A good friend of mine has just informed me that he has TB and is in very rough shape. He said that he is on an antibiotic but that he is pretty late in the stages of it.

I've done some research on WebMD but I am wondering if anyone here knows anything. Any and all input would be appreciated. Thank you.

1/16/2006 2:29:48 AM

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

Don't know anything, but I figured wikipedia is less likely to make everything sound as optimistic and happy as webmd does. Webmd tends not to say anything bad except for if such and such occurs talk to the doctor. Wiki seemed to say its only fatal when untreated and usually in developing countries. But the scaring it talked about I didn't see on my scan of Webmd. Good your friend turns out okay.

1/16/2006 3:20:00 AM

been around him lately? better go get a ppd

what did he mean by late stages of it?

it takes a good 6 months of antibiotics to get rid of it...

1/16/2006 4:35:42 AM

f00l

latent TB does not spread and I am sure he's not "active" as he's on antibiotics. Not to mention he'd be quarantined otherwise.

1/16/2006 4:53:48 AM

he could have been around him before he knew he had it when he was very much contagious



ASS

1/16/2006 5:07:37 AM

The Govt. would be all over his ass if that were the case

1/16/2006 6:07:23 AM

well if it latent i dont see how hed be in "rough shape." my girl tested positive a few months ago, but it turns out she had some vaccine that semi-works in england. my doctor said USA is too pompous to accept the fact that we should probably do the same cuz we didnt get rid of it like we thought.

1/16/2006 9:32:43 AM

Really, TB is a very hard bug to spread. Unless you've been sleeping closeby, eating and drinking after each other, or making out, you probably haven't gotten TB from him - the infection rate for "close contacts" is around 20%. If you did, there's about a two-year incubation period in which the bacterium can become active in your body...so becoming infected could take quite a while. If you have been infected with Mycobacterium by your friend, and you have an uncompromised immune system, there's only a 10% chance that you will also develop active TB. However, to have TB really sucks, so, go get tested. A positive test for TB antibodies (the skin bump thing) does not indicate that you will develop the symptoms of TB.

Actually, according to the CDC website, the latent infection should not be treated with antibiotics, only the active infection. The skin test does not indicate that you have freshly replicating Mycobacterium in your body - it merely confirms that Mycobacterium has been in your body and has elicited an immune response. A check of your sputnum (icky cough-up type stuff) is required to test for active TB infection. Applying antibiotics when the bacteria is not replicating (aka, when the disease is not active) will accomplish nothing.

TB shouldn't be fatal in this country unless your friend is immunocompromised (AIDS, chemo, organ transplants, etc) or has a horrific multi-drug resistant strain. As long as he faithfully takes his meds, odds are he'll be fine.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/tb/faqs/qa.htm

1/16/2006 10:13:14 AM

i was pretty sure i read that it could be airborn for up to 3 hours after a cough or something. unlikely but possible.

1/16/2006 10:32:11 AM

my husband had a positive PPD last year and had to go have a chest x-ray. They told him it depended upon where the TB was located as to if it was contagious. The most contagious form of course would be in the lungs. He doesn't have active TB, but if somehow his immune system was compromised in the future then he could get it (if he got aids, cancer, etc). He picked up the germ when he was in Guatemala.

1/16/2006 11:54:33 AM

Well, hopefully he doesn't have aids or a super resistent TB bug. Make sure he takes every pill as directed or he'll be harboring those super bugs that will be tough to beat and make the rest of the world hate him...

1/16/2006 5:36:54 PM

ok a wee bit of info on how a TB patient is handled...

if they are deemed contagious they are put on aerosol isolation precautions

-- place in a neg pressure room
-- everyone going in has to wear gown, gloves, and a special rated respirator to filter out the
teeny tiny particles


the flu is a droplet bug......it can travel about 3 feet-- it has heavier particles

TB can fly 10-20 ft it is aerosolized it hangs in the air for quite a while.





after a while the immune system "walls it off" and you have nodules in your lungs that are chock full of TB


so if you are likely to have lung surgery...........they will xray you because cutting into a lung and having something go "poof" is a bad thing.........................and everyone in the OR is exposed to TB




its an interesting disease



i have to have a PPD done at least once a year.................if its positive i have to have a chest XRay and they keep an eye on me


so if there is a chance ive been exposed..................i would go have a ppd



insurance should cover a PPD...........


I like to play it safe tho

1/16/2006 8:47:41 PM

I think PPDs and chest Xrays are free because the Govt. wants to eradicate this deadly infection. I got a free diagnosis at the Wake County Health Services.

1/16/2006 8:57:16 PM

you cant truly iradicate it, considering people freely move back and forth through the borders... its just too easy to bring it with you after traveling. I mean i went traveling and came back without being tested or anything.

1/16/2006 9:06:32 PM

ok..curiosity...isnt it like supposed to be tb of something ...i know lungs is th emost common..but it can affect other body parts too, right??

my girlfriend was briefly diagnosed with tb (the lung type, though later it was proved to be the wrong diagnosis)..i did some research on it...it is very curable, and there is some govt funded org. which provides tb kits or something..i think its something related with WHO..

my ex roomie once told me tat he had tb when he was a kid and the antibiotics worked jus fine...although very contagious..it is a fact thhat a lot of people have the tuberculin bacteria in their body.and its jus not active. Infact the tb skin test for a lot of people will show positive but they might not be suffering from it...let m eknow if anyone wants some information on the WHO kit.

Anyway my 2 cents on it..

1/16/2006 9:09:19 PM

My PPD came back positive 2 months ago. Luckily, if this occurs, all medication and appropriate matters of prevention are free since it is a highly communicable disease. I was at the local health department and they got chest xrays and blood work immediately (including a HIV test- since HIV infected people have different TB treatment)- all came back negative. So basically, I contracted the disease (probably when I was in Ghana) but it incubated into my immune system and is dormant = not contagious. However, I am on a regimen of antibiotics for 9 months! This is so if my immune system were to take a dive (mono, HIV etc), the dormant strain would not become active.

If your friend is in the late stages, what are his symptoms? And you need to get a ppd now now now.

1/16/2006 9:19:03 PM

typical TB is in the lungs

atypical can be in the joints and is not contagious

to answer faithnomore's question

1/17/2006 3:03:54 AM

i thought they got rid of TB a long time ago

1/17/2006 3:13:12 AM

^^^ When he coughs, he bleeds from his mouth and nose. He also sounds like shit on the phone and he says he is really tired all of the time. Apparently he had had problems with his lungs for a couple months until he finally went to the Dr in August of '05. They diagnosed him with TB and started him on antibiotics. Then I hung out with him for about 5 straight days from Setp 15-20th when he came to visit me for a trip we had planned earlier in the year.
He says he has been back to the doctor once in Oct and they told him that smoking, drinking, and caffeine are keeping him from getting any better. He said the Dr. said that he probably won't make it out of 2006.
He told me about all of this about 3 days ago.

1/17/2006 4:05:24 AM