Does anyone have any first hand information on this????
My uncle was just diagnosed with infectious contagious TB!!!! He is in the ICU unit at the hospital. No one can go in to see him unless they dress like someone getting ready to walk on the moon!! my mom said there is a big sign on the door STOP!!!! contagious infectious area. He had been losing weight for a long time and not looking good and everyone thought that he was just getting old and sick. We had no idea it would be this!!!! I was at a family picnic with him last month!!
momofthree
Ack, thats awful, I hope he is ok. If it was me, I'd get tested, otherwise, you are going to worry about it. If you did get infected, it can be even more serious in people like us because of the immune supressant drugs so I would think the earlier they catch it the better.
Yikes!
Here an info page from Medline Plus, http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tuberculosis.html
From Merck - "People with active tuberculosis in their lungs contaminate the air with bacteria when they cough, sneeze, or even speak. These bacteria can stay in the air for several hours. If another person breathes them in, that person may become infected."
I'm really sorry about your grandfather. You're on Enbrel and you need to be tested. If your grandfather, previously to the picnic, spent time around any of the people that was at the picnic, then you might have been exposed to TB from another source. What I'm saying is other people there may have picked up TB from previous visits with him. Also, there are different strains of TB around now and some are extremely difficult to treat. I wouldn't take the chance, I'd be tested if I had been at that picnic. Hope all goes well. Get tested! Yes...get tested. My brother had TB about 8 years ago. He was working at