TB
- Thread starter Softus
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Ask your local surgery?
Then I'm sure you already googled on the subject?
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TB - yes, nasty business TB.
Years of misery and suffering for all afflicted.
Don't think he's prime minister any more though. It's now his mate, the glum scots killjoy who's running the show - Gordon Brown (GB)!
Years of misery and suffering for all afflicted.
Don't think he's prime minister any more though. It's now his mate, the glum scots killjoy who's running the show - Gordon Brown (GB)!
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You don't need to worry. TB is quite hard to get. You get it from inhaling aerosols containing large numbers of the bacteria which are produced by infected people coughing (not from drains!).
So unless you are working for prolonged periods (weeks) in poorly ventilated places, in cramped circumstances with people who are likely to have TB (and are currently coughing) like prisons or for intra-venous dug users/AIDS patients you have very little chance of getting it.
And even if you did catch it chances are you'd never know. Furthermore almost all strains are treatable. I think the WHO estimates that about 50% of the worlds population have been infected by TB at some point. Worth having a CXR if you get night sweats (bad enough to mean changing the sheets), persistent cough, weight loss or lumps in your neck/groins which don't go away.
Legionaires disease is however caught by inhaling aerosols from water sources (e.g. showers). The bug, legionella pneumophilia, lives inside amoeba which can live in stagnant water. Symptoms include dry cough, really high temp (>40oC), rigors, sharp catching chest pain. It's still not common though, but worthwhile seeing your GP if you get those symptoms especially if you work with plumbing or air conditioning. A quite simple urine test can detect it and it's treatable.
Nice to see a question I know the answer to for once
So unless you are working for prolonged periods (weeks) in poorly ventilated places, in cramped circumstances with people who are likely to have TB (and are currently coughing) like prisons or for intra-venous dug users/AIDS patients you have very little chance of getting it.
And even if you did catch it chances are you'd never know. Furthermore almost all strains are treatable. I think the WHO estimates that about 50% of the worlds population have been infected by TB at some point. Worth having a CXR if you get night sweats (bad enough to mean changing the sheets), persistent cough, weight loss or lumps in your neck/groins which don't go away.
Legionaires disease is however caught by inhaling aerosols from water sources (e.g. showers). The bug, legionella pneumophilia, lives inside amoeba which can live in stagnant water. Symptoms include dry cough, really high temp (>40oC), rigors, sharp catching chest pain. It's still not common though, but worthwhile seeing your GP if you get those symptoms especially if you work with plumbing or air conditioning. A quite simple urine test can detect it and it's treatable.
Nice to see a question I know the answer to for once
sorry puzzle b the only thing you got right was you cant catch it from drains and i am not 100% on that i got it in hospital waiting room tb is almost epedemic in gb coming in from eastern europe it is a highly contagouse
airbourne virus symptems vary this almost killed me as it is becoming harder
to treat i have been told if i am reinfected the chances are it will kill me
this info comes from the medical team tb unit where i was treated for over six months i dont use drugs i don't drink i have never been in prison and i dont spend time with strangers in confined places unless they are blonde with a nice pair of tits sorry for the rant but 7 years on i am still suffering DO NOT
TREAT TB LIGHTLY
airbourne virus symptems vary this almost killed me as it is becoming harder
to treat i have been told if i am reinfected the chances are it will kill me
this info comes from the medical team tb unit where i was treated for over six months i dont use drugs i don't drink i have never been in prison and i dont spend time with strangers in confined places unless they are blonde with a nice pair of tits sorry for the rant but 7 years on i am still suffering DO NOT
TREAT TB LIGHTLY
I'm sorry Jockspark,
it sounds like you had a rough time but I'm not treating it lightly; that is what the evidence shows. Your case is highly unusual. I think it's far more likely that you caught TB from someone you lived with who never developed symptoms than from a visit to a doctors waiting room.
Some of the strains from elsewhere in the world are more contagious but compared to influenza or in-fact most other lung infections it is relatively uncontagious. Your doctors are not worried about you being infected again but rather sleeping TB being reactivated. The bacteria can hide from anti-biotics in cells called macrophages.
The BCG vaccine is only about 80% effective and then only for 15 yrs or so. The vaccine is offered to high risk groups:
"the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has recommended that the following risk groups be offered BCG vaccination in the UK (2):
all infants living in areas where the incidence of TB is 40/100,000 or greater
infants whose parents or grandparents were born in a country with a TB incidence of 40/100,000 or higher
previously unvaccinated new immigrants from high prevalence countries for TB
children who would otherwise have been offered BCG through the schools' programme (this was administration of BCG vaccine to all previously unvaccinated children aged 10–14 years) will be screened for risk factors, tested and vaccinated as appropriate
BCG vaccination should also continue to be offered to those at risk due to their occupation, such as health care workers, veterinary staff, staff of prisons; to contacts of known cases, and to those intending to live or work in high prevalence countries for extended periods (generally one month or longer)".
There's no risk from drains and very little from customers. The tetanus bacteria is more common and vaccines should be taken every 10yrs- that's probably more important.
it sounds like you had a rough time but I'm not treating it lightly; that is what the evidence shows. Your case is highly unusual. I think it's far more likely that you caught TB from someone you lived with who never developed symptoms than from a visit to a doctors waiting room.
Some of the strains from elsewhere in the world are more contagious but compared to influenza or in-fact most other lung infections it is relatively uncontagious. Your doctors are not worried about you being infected again but rather sleeping TB being reactivated. The bacteria can hide from anti-biotics in cells called macrophages.
The BCG vaccine is only about 80% effective and then only for 15 yrs or so. The vaccine is offered to high risk groups:
"the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has recommended that the following risk groups be offered BCG vaccination in the UK (2):
all infants living in areas where the incidence of TB is 40/100,000 or greater
infants whose parents or grandparents were born in a country with a TB incidence of 40/100,000 or higher
previously unvaccinated new immigrants from high prevalence countries for TB
children who would otherwise have been offered BCG through the schools' programme (this was administration of BCG vaccine to all previously unvaccinated children aged 10–14 years) will be screened for risk factors, tested and vaccinated as appropriate
BCG vaccination should also continue to be offered to those at risk due to their occupation, such as health care workers, veterinary staff, staff of prisons; to contacts of known cases, and to those intending to live or work in high prevalence countries for extended periods (generally one month or longer)".
There's no risk from drains and very little from customers. The tetanus bacteria is more common and vaccines should be taken every 10yrs- that's probably more important.
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