Conference moira::parenting

Tuberculosis (sp?) is a lung disease, but I'm not sure what the symptoms
are.  It is caught by being in the vicinity of someone who has active TB
since it is passed through the air.  For instance, if you are in a room with
someone who has active TB or where someone with it has recently been, you 
could catch it, though I believe the chances are pretty slim.  I know that
my twins were in a NICU in a hospital where one of the staff members evidently
was diagnosed with TB, and anyone who had been in the NICU during some 
specific time frame had to be tested. That included babies that were brought
there for 10 minutes to be checked before being brought to the regular nursery.
Although the population exposed in the NICU was quite large, I don't believe
they found anyone else to be positive from that exposure, so the chances seem
to be slim of catching it.

The testing involves injecting a small bubble of medicine just beneath the
skin.  You check it for a reaction a day or two later.  If it turns red,it
means you've been exposed and you go for additional testing (x-rays, I think)
to see if you've just been exposed, or if you actually have caught it.  If
the spot goes away, then it is negative.

I'm sure someone will  have more definitive information, but this is what
I remember from last spring when we all had to be tested.

Cathy

The name Tuberculosis means an infection of the tubers or small air passages in
the lungs.  (You'll find a better description in the medical notes file :-).
Tuberculosis is once again on the rise in the world and especially in the 
developed countries.  It is the famous disease that the Empress Elizabeth of
Austria (Sissy) had and was cured of (in Switz, of course :-).  Symptoms include
coughing and extreme shortness of breath.  It is a wasting disease.  In the 
soaps, when someone gets it (starts coughing) it usually means they're about to
be down sized :-)

There is a reasonable amount of tuberculosis coming into Europe through 
vacationers and immigration.  In the past this has mainly affected third world
country citizens due, I suppose, to a lowered resistance to the disease.  They
check for the presence of antibodies in the schools (the patch test mentioned 
in the previous note).  If you test negative and are from an "at risk" group
(third world or mediterranean country born or parents from there, travel
frequently to Africa, etc.) you are recommended to have a vacination.  We
thought we whould have my older son vacinated since he was negative and we
travel A LOT and I am sorry we did.  It left an incredible scar, like the
worst smallpox scar you've ever seen.  It festered for months.

I will have a hard decision to make if Markus (the younger boy) tests negative
due to the rise of resistant strains of tuberculosis and our experiences in
having Dirk vacinated.

Cheryl

    TB is also on the rise in the U.S. because of the rise in the
    homeless population.  Although almost anyone can get it.  A dear
    friend of mine had it a couple of years ago, and fortunately
    she's OK now.  In fact, her right lung, which was the diseased
    lung, has been restored to nearly full functioning.  If you think
    you may have been exposed to it, get tested.  With prompt treatment,
    TB is curable.

TB is caused by a bacteria.  Before antibiotics, people were sent to dry, desert
locations (Arizona was famous for it), because the dry heat would help them
fight the disease.  At that time it was popularly known as "Consumption".

TB patients were also isolated from the general population because it is so
contagious and at that time, there was no cure.

Currently, in the USA (I think in all states, but I'm not sure), teachers, 
daycare workers, and some food service people must be tested yearly for TB.


Pat

    When my sister was in college and about to start student-teaching, her
    TB test (required) came back positive.  She never had any symptoms, nor
    did she get any.  She was retested 6 months later and everything was
    fine.

    One of the ways TB is spread is through an infected person's spit. 
    This is why there are laws against spitting on the sidewalk in
    most US cities.  
    
    TB is approaching epidemic levels in most large inner cities,
    where nutrition is poor, drug abuse common, and people crammed
    together.
    
    --bonnie

    Another problem with tuberculosis is that the bacteria it comes from
    can live for so long outside the body.  Most virus strains die
    immediately if not inude a human, but the tuberculosis strain can float
    in air and live for a long time (sorry, don't know how long, on order
    of days to weeks as I remember).  I know this because when I was at
    school, my TB test converted: I showed no signs of the disease but the
    patch test showed positive.  I went for a year of chemo-therapy (which
    wa pointed out to mean a year of simple pills in this case), with no
    side effects, and am now "immune".  Whether that is permament as they
    say, we'll see at the final tally ;-) .  I will alsways show a positive
    TB test, though, even though I did not have the disease, which was
    guaranteed by chest X-rays at the beginning and end of the treatment. 
    The chemo-therapy I was put on was INH, findable in the Merck manual or
    Physicians Desk Reference.
    
    Adrienne
    

    There are several alarming trends regarding tuberculosis.
    
    1. AIDS is creating a fertile ground for people with weakened immune
       systems to grow in.
    
    2. Drug resistant strains are emerging which are VERY resistant to
       antibiotics.
    
    3. Typically homeless people don't finish their drug treatments and
       stop taking the antibiotics as soon as symptoms ease.  This creates
       an ideal environment for drug resistant strains to develop.
    
    The new rise of TB is SCARY, because of the combination of AIDS
    enhanced places to grow and drug resistance.
    
    I don't think we have heard the last of TB.  "Ill' be BAAACCKK!"