[spooky06]

In general, how was the health of your child/children when you arrived in Ethiopia? Were they generally healthy minus parasites, etc?

[ocracoke]

When I arrived in Ethiopia my daughter appeared to have what has a chest cold -- raspy breathing and head congestion. By the time we got home it was bronchitis -- in both of us. Otherwise she was healthy. She has severe lactose intolerance which the orphanage didn't seem to notice. And she brought home ringworm and scabies. She was treated for giardia while in Ethiopia and luckily that seems to have not reared it's ugly head since arriving home. My daughter was small but had decent body fat on her. However, she didn't know to ask for food or drink when she was hungry or thirsty so she had to learn that.

Samantha

[spooky06]

Thanks. All of things you mentioned seem to be what the agencies tell you to expect.

[bluedaisy]

Our son has been really health since we brought him home in May at age 15 months.

[annethcz]

My DS came home a year ago at age 5. He was very healthy, with a few minor exceptions.
-intestinal parasites. DS had giardia, which was taken care of by a single 10-day course of flagyl.
-lice. I looked through DS's hair when we were still in Ethiopia, but quite honestly didn't know what to look for. We didn't realize that DS had lice until a month after his arrival when I discovered lice in *MY* hair- my 3 other children also were infested.
-molluscum. DS had 2 molluscum on his face, they went away on their own after a couple of months. No one else in the family contracted them
-ringworm. DS had a couple of small ringworms on him that NO one (including the pediatrician) noticed until one of our other children got a large patch of ringworm on her chest. The ringworm has now completed it's round through our family, I was the last one to get it and still have patch that is healing.
-Dental issues. This was DS's biggest health issue. All 4 of DS's top front teeth were severely decayed and needed to be extracted. It appeared that as a baby, he had been put to bed with a bottle (while living with his bio family). He also had numerous dental caries, requiring fillings in 8 of his back teeth.

I feel that all of this was within the range of normal for an internationally adopted child.

edited to add: DS is rather small for his age, and his intake papers state that he was marginally malnourished when he was placed in the orphanage. When he came home, he was in the 30th percentile for height/weight for his age. He hasn't grown much in the last year, although he eats fairly well. I honestly think he's just a small, yet healthy kid.

[spooky06]

Thanks. I'm glad to hear what we should expect. Nothing that isn't treatable by meds and TLC!

[teranga]

Our son was very ill (required hospitalization in Addis) when we got there, but it was all treatable. Also severe lactose and soy intolerance.

One thing not mentioned above which is VERY common in orphanages worldwide, and which our son had, is TB. His was inactive, so he had to take 9 months of meds.

To put in another plug here...do NOT only get your child tested for TB upon arrival in the US. Often their immune systems are so low from all the things mentioned above, that they will not test positive even if they are. Be SURE to retest 3-6 months after arrival in the U.S.

Our son tested negative at one month home and hten HUGELY positive on the PPD when retested after a few months of healthy food and good medical care.

Also, most kids there have had a TB vaccine. Have the TB results read as if they have NOT had that vaccine b/c the vaccine is very ineffective and you won't know whether the positive reaction is b/c of the vaccine (which can cause a positive PPD up to 5mm) or whether it is TB exposure.

Teranga

[teranga]

OH, as for weight/height. Our son is in the NEGATIVE 7th percentile. There has been talk from the drs of possible growth hormone at puberty...we'll see...

[spooky06]

Thanks for the info.

[csw]

Hi
A few things to mention about TB and the vaccine...

There is a blood test called Quantiferon TB-Gold that is FDA approved and has CDC guidelines available for practitioners to look at.

It can tell the difference between the strain of TB from the vaccine (from cows) and the human strain..

So..rather than testing a newly adopted child from a pandemic country with the standard PPD which may give a false positive result if they had the BCG vaccine..the reaction can be over 5 mm by the way..some kids who had the BCG vaccine had a PPD and their entire arm swelled up....I would go for the blood test. That way..they may not needlessly have to go on 9 months of INH antibiotic..which can cause liver problems, esp in adults and older kids..but not as often in babies..but why chance it?

My daughter was one of the first that I know of to get the blood test..we had to drive from our state to the National TB center in New Jersey to get it done..however now most states are doing this test..I know Quest labs does it in our state now..

Our daughter had a positive PPD (she had the BCG vaccine at age 7 months..usually given at birth) and actually had a severe reaction to the PPD, which the "experts" will say can't happen..but her vaccine was actually reactivated..and the National TB Center doc told me it happens all the time..she had a fever and slurred speech for a few days after the PPD..anyways..we have the negative blood test result on her chart now..and she is to never ever have another PPD skin test ever again..and we avoided 9 months of antibiotics..

I have learned alot about TB, the BCG vaccine and the Quantiferon blood test..if anyone has any questions feel free to PM me..

[teranga]

Thanks for that information!

We saw 2 international adoption specialists and both said we should get the INH for our son, and never mentioned a test which could tell the difference between the vaccine and the exposure (both also said about 5mm would be the max. reaction). I will definitely call and ask why I had not been told about it...I'm almost tempted to get the test done just to see whether my son's exposure was the vaccine or exposure, though I suppose at this point that would be putting him through that needlessly.

This is also something I think the adoption agencies should have as, given the info. I rec'd from them, they don't have it.

Out of curiosity, when did this test become available??

Thanks,
Teranga