The one thing I learned so far in nursing school is that people who test positive for TB often have AIDS. Ever get tested for that?

sara

Herofslytherin, you are waaaay of. Either you aren't paying attention in nursing school or you have lousy teachers. You are confusing your facts. Aids patients commonly get TB as a secondary infection, but that is COMPLETELY different than what you are stating. After you are in the healthcare field for several years, you will likely test positive for TB yourself, either from exposure or from taking the TB Mantoux test repeatedly (your immune system will recognize the pathogen from repeated exposure to the small amounts received each time the test is given to you). For original poster: You need to take the drug only if you have active TB or have latent TB, which would show up in an xray. If your xray was negative, that would mean that no enclosed tubercules were observed. Go to your local health department and they can give you a more detailed explanation and put your mind at ease.

my son who works in a doctors office was tested positive on his ppd skin test, but the chest xray showed "no active disease". If he had latent tb would that show up on the chest xray. The xray showed "no active disease" does he need to have treatment, or is that consider negative. AnaRn7509 above mentioned that latent TB would show up on the xray.

I am from mexico in mexico i had the tb vaccine, then i had a tb test of course i was positive i had an xray came negative still they gave me the medicine, how often a chest xray is required?

Latent TB does not show up on a Chest xray, only active disease does. If you have had a positive tb skin test and a negative x-ray then you do have latent TB. This means you may or may not develop TB later in life. It's advised to take the medicine to ward off the chances that you may develop it later in life at some time when you become immunocompromised (via diabetes, HIV, old age, other severely stressful events). Once you've taken the meds, the only way to make sure you don't develop active TB is to have x-rays. They are ordered at different intervals for different people, healthcare workers is annually/semiannually, others can go 5-10 years as long as they are healthy and are not around sick people.

drintraining is correct. A positive skin test and a negative chest xray means that you have latent TB infection. It is recommended that you treat the latent infection with 6 to 9 months of isoniazid. Your liver enzymes will be checked prior to starting treatment to make sure that you have no liver problems. Then they will be rechecked periodically throughout the treatment duration.

I tested positive many yrs ago on the ppd. I was put on INH (isoniazid) but I was allergic to it so I didn't complete my 6 - 9 months of it. My chest x-rays have always been negative but I am concerned about all these x-rays. I heard the Chinese might have something to help with tb.

Fresa,
My doctor told me today that chest x-rays are only good for a year, so you probably need to do them yearly.