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I haven't read the other posts yet, so sorry if I'm repeating what they have said but....
DON'T START THOSE MEDS YET!!! If the chest x ray is clear, take a look at the scar on the shoulder. Is it still oozing? If it's still oozing, then that is why your child tested positive. Ask your pediatrician to refer you to the infectious disease person (or ask that your pediatrician educate him/herself on 3rd world medicine and international adoption issues). Our pediatrician didn't even know what a bcg vaccine was!
Here's the thing......the only thing our pediatrician knew for sure is that the INH would deplete our childs vitamin b6 so he had to take a daily supplement, plus he had to have blood tests monthly to ensure those strong meds weren't wrecking his liver. Now......I figured if we were risking his liver I wanted to ask some questions.
We went to the infectious disease guy (who also didn't know what a bcg vaccine was, or what the scar looked like). The infectious disease guy went and made some phone calls to some colleagues and when he came back he agreed with me that the mantoux should be re-done.
Guess what? It was negative! No kidding. I knew it would be negative. Here's the other thing though-----if you start the INH while the bcg scar is still oozing, it will continue to ooze while on the medication. Our son's scar oozed until we took him off the meds (he was on it for about 6 weeks).
Both the pediatrician and the infectious disease docs were really patronizing towards me. Both of them asked me "Don't you realize that tb is a life threatening illness?" I responded to both of them by saying "I assumed that an md would know that liver failure is life threatening also." And I told both of them that it's not that I was refusing treatment, I just wanted a more thorough diagnosis and to get my questions answered. Seems reasonable.
So........as long as your child's chest xray is normal you don't have to worry about it being contaigous. Don't worry, just get some more answers. Don't let anyone railroad you into taking those strong meds without getting your questions answered!
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trice
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