In the medical field with health related issue???

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Hi,

When I was around 12 I was diagnosed with TB, none of my parents have it so I am guessing it had to be transmitted when I lived in Central America. Now, I want to volunteer this summer and obviously become a doctor in the future.

How does having TB affect me in my career path? How about volunteering in a hospitol?

Originally Posted by investing101

Hi,

When I was around 12 I was diagnosed with TB, none of my parents have it so I am guessing it had to be transmitted when I lived in Central America. Now, I want to volunteer this summer and obviously become a doctor in the future.

How does having TB affect me in my career path? How about volunteering in a hospitol?

It's not an application killer by any means, but could be problematic in a few regards, I'm not sure what the process for volunteering in a hospital is with a positive history of TB, I know they tend to have issues with that. What do you mean diagnosed with TB? Did you have a positive CXR or just a ppd? Have any symptoms now? If you are fine now, and can show you've received treatment and have an unchaged CXR from a previous year you might be ok.

PPD test in middle school.

Originally Posted by investing101

PPD test in middle school.

Was it a single positive test that you never had any follow-up or treatment for, or did you receive treatment?

Originally Posted by investing101

Hi,

When I was around 12 I was diagnosed with TB, none of my parents have it so I am guessing it had to be transmitted when I lived in Central America. Now, I want to volunteer this summer and obviously become a doctor in the future.

How does having TB affect me in my career path? How about volunteering in a hospitol?

Dude, the skin test tells you if you were exposed - whether the infection is active or if you had TB in the past (or possibly were vaccinated against TB). In North America it's not standard procedure to go "hey look, you have TB. Well, see ya." If you were actively infected you would have been treated. Did you get any follow-up testing at all? Ever have repeat skin testing?

Originally Posted by O2Doc

Dude, the skin test tells you if you were exposed - whether the infection is active or if you had TB in the past (or possibly were vaccinated against TB). In North America it's not standard procedure to go "hey look, you have TB. Well, see ya." If you were actively infected you would have been treated. Did you get any follow-up testing at all? Ever have repeat skin testing?

I had a repeat skin test but it is going to be positive regardless. I remember taking some pills for like 9 months. I am going for an x ray tomorrow since I don't remember much being that I was really young when they tested everyone in school.

Originally Posted by investing101

I had a repeat skin test but it is going to be positive regardless. I remember taking some pills for like 9 months. I am going for an x ray tomorrow since I don't remember much being that I was really young when they tested everyone in school.

You should be fine. You took the proper course of antibiotics, and when your x-ray comes back clean, you should be cleared to work without any issues. If your x-ray isn't clean, they will treat it, but that isn't very likely.

Your TB history will make working and volunteering at hospitals more annoying, but won't disqualify you unless you have active TB. You'll say you've had a history of TB and positive PPD, and then they'll skip the skin test and give you a chest x-ray to make sure you're clear. Like I said, annoying but not detrimental.

It will make your clinical experiences very annoying for the first month. Skip the ppd if possible and get a chest xray every time like others have said. You have to ask for this. Every ppd I have ever been asked to have has read a false positive, the resulting paperwork and dept of health has been a load of shenanigans since day one.

I believe at my institution if you self-disclose previous exposure (the ppd might give you away anyway, but since you were exposed over a decade ago, maybe not) you automatically get a CXR. That's a better option, anyway, just to quickly "prove" you aren't latent.

My dad had to have a CXR done annually because he was infected as a kid. It was a hassle but not surmountable.