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health advisory Hospital Diseases 2007-11-12 20:37:43

but in a week or to have a chest xray that says positive or shows that the person has TB , and if so would the TB be active TB or inactive (what i mean by inactive is would it be like old tb tb that the person had years ago but is not contagious now )

Answer:

if you had TB and was cured, scarring may still be seen on your chest xrays..

but if u think you are developing TB, try to ckeck if you have the symptoms:

cough longer than a week,

difficulty breathing (due to the cough), and

blood-tinged sputum (a late sign) indicating a (+) TB

well, ideally a chest xray is done first to have a picture of your lungs

and then if they found out somehting, that's the time they'll order a Mantoux test (the TB Skin test)

if its positive (as shown by a formation of a wheal/induration after 72hrs)

a sputum culture is ordered to confirm the diagnosis..

in your case, you had Mantoux test before the chest xray..

and the xray shows something now,

i suggest you ask for a repeat mantoux test so that you'll know if you have it

and if you have it (i hope not)

go get a sputum exam...

TB is treatable if you have compliance most especially to the medication regimen

lets hope for a negative result for you..

thanks

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If you have a negative TB test, you most likely do not have tuberculosis. The TB skin test injects harmless TB antigen into your skin. If you have anti-TB antibodies, you will clear the antigen quickly. If you do not have anti-TB antibodies, your body will mount a large immune response to the antigen, causing redness and swelling at the injection site.