vr_trakowski (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
vr_trakowski) wrote2007-06-20 09:49 pm
vr_trakowski) wrote2007-06-20 09:49 pm
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I had a TB test today. (Why is a long story I will get to later; nothing bad.) I have been lightly punctured with a scarily long but thin needle, and been dotted with ink, and issued with instructions. I go back on Friday so they can look at it.
The last time I had a test, which was at least several years ago, I think it was still the four-pronger, not a single needle. As I recall, I also had a standard reaction to it--i.e., negative. But when I was little, I used to baffle the doctors because my arm would not react at all. I remember them demanding somewhat angrily whether I had the arms mixed up, but I could always show that there were absolutely no marks on the other arm either--no puffs, no dots, nothing. Poof.
I don't know why this happened. When I was two, I was treated for tuberculosis, though I didn't actually have the disease; I don't know what made them treat me, but my mother says that by process of elimination they figured out that a babysitter must have been the transmitter, because they'd managed to find every other person I'd ever interacted with to any significant degree. Simpler, I suppose, when one has only two years to cover.
I remember getting chest X-rays, probably at about age six, though I don't remember the treatment at all. Is it possible that the latter so boosted my immune system that the test had no chance? I don't know. It will be interesting to see, however, just what my arm does over the next day or so.
The last time I had a test, which was at least several years ago, I think it was still the four-pronger, not a single needle. As I recall, I also had a standard reaction to it--i.e., negative. But when I was little, I used to baffle the doctors because my arm would not react at all. I remember them demanding somewhat angrily whether I had the arms mixed up, but I could always show that there were absolutely no marks on the other arm either--no puffs, no dots, nothing. Poof.
I don't know why this happened. When I was two, I was treated for tuberculosis, though I didn't actually have the disease; I don't know what made them treat me, but my mother says that by process of elimination they figured out that a babysitter must have been the transmitter, because they'd managed to find every other person I'd ever interacted with to any significant degree. Simpler, I suppose, when one has only two years to cover.
I remember getting chest X-rays, probably at about age six, though I don't remember the treatment at all. Is it possible that the latter so boosted my immune system that the test had no chance? I don't know. It will be interesting to see, however, just what my arm does over the next day or so.
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:)
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Yeah, I have to get tested every year where I work in Public Health. In Norway we got BCG innoculations in school, I guess because Norway borders on Russia where TB is still prevalent. So I was nervous I wouldn't get the 'right' results. luckily, so far so good. Just to bring out the true nerd in me, this is kinda interesting: We studied tuberculin reactivity in young Norwegian adults and its possible dependency on age, gender, previous BCG vaccination, smoking habits, occupational exposure, diet as well as years of education as a measure of socio-economic status. Responders of a random sample of men and women aged 20-44 years living in Bergen, Norway were interviewed and tested with the adrenaline-Pirquettest with Norwegian-produced synthetic medium tuberculin at the out-patient chest clinic in the city of Bergen in 1992-1993. Nine hundred and three subjects out of 1200 met for the clinical examination (75%). Five hundred and eighty-eight subjects were tuberculin-tested and read, whereof 95% were BCG vaccinated by age 14. Mean tuberculin reactivity was 4.8 mm (SD: 3.0 mm). A positive reaction (>4 mm) was found in 64%, whereof 7% had a strongly positive reaction (>10 mm). A negative reaction (<4 mm) occurred in 36%, whereof 10% had no reaction (0 mm). Only 30% of the females and 36% of the males aged 21--25 years were tuberculin positive 7-12 years after BCG vaccination. Linear regression analysis demonstrated tuberculin reactivity to increase with increasing age, male gender with an increasing sex effect by age, and current smoking. Occupational dust or gas exposure, a diet rich in vitamin C or years of education did not influence tuberculin reactivity significantly.
...yeah, I'm a science nerd :P
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