# Positive TB skin test



## paradoqs (May 28, 2010)

Hey, I just tested positive for TB via the skin test. I needed it to get my IV cert class. I was wondering, can you even be an EMT if you have a positive TB test?


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## TransportJockey (May 28, 2010)

paradoqs said:


> Hey, I just tested positive for TB via the skin test. I needed it to get my IV cert class. I was wondering, can you even be an EMT if you have a positive TB test?



Yea you can. They'll probably send you for a chest xr


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## reaper (May 28, 2010)

Most often it is a false positive. You can be allergic to the serum. You will have to get a chest x-ray to rule it out.

You can work, as long as you are not an active carrier. A lot of people have it and never become active.


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## paradoqs (May 28, 2010)

Cool thanks. BTW paintball, I dont know who you work for but I'm interviewing with Pridemark on June 4th


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## TransportJockey (May 28, 2010)

paradoqs said:


> Cool thanks. BTW paintball, I dont know who you work for but I'm interviewing with Pridemark on June 4th



I worked for ACA, but I have an interview in early June (gotta call em early AM Tuesday and find out the exact time, since my computer calendar took a dump, I think it's the 4th) with Pridemark


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## Akulahawk (May 28, 2010)

Yes. A lot of people have been PPD positive for TB... and never get active TB.


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## Foxbat (May 28, 2010)

I had a positive TB skin test, had an X-ray taken to confirm no active TB, and given a prophylactic treatment (antibiotics). Same thing happened to my supervisor.
The place where you get tested might give you a document that says you have positive TB skin test but no active TB; you should keep it because many EMS companies send their employees for a TB skin test regularly.


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## usafmedic45 (May 28, 2010)

> You can be allergic to the serum



I'm very allergic to it.  The last time I was given it, I got to experience 0.3 mg IM epi. 



> had a positive TB skin test, had an X-ray taken to confirm no active TB, and given a prophylactic treatment (antibiotics).



Were you exposed to someone with it?  It seems a bit extreme to give you the prophylactic ABX simply for the positive skin test and no other indicators of possible infection.  Especially keeping in mind how many of the anti-tubercular medications can easily produce clinical toxicity or other problems.  It seems like the doc in question overreacted to the situations involving you or your supervisor unless you left something out of your post. 



> The place where you get tested might give you a document that says you have positive TB skin test but no active TB; you should keep it because many EMS companies send their employees for a TB skin test regularly.



More than likely you just get a CXR every few years (here it is five years, although I've seen places that ask for one every three) with a documented history of false positive skin antigen testing.  It's always fun when I get a radiology tech who has never done one on me before because of all the "interesting" things that show up (multiple healed rib fractures, a healed sternal fracture that creates a false "hinge", metal fragments, etc.  At least I don't have the piercings anymore :lol: )


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## Aidey (May 29, 2010)

reaper said:


> Most often it is a false positive. You can be allergic to the serum. You will have to get a chest x-ray to rule it out.



This is me. Because of a couple of different jobs and no one accepting each others tests got the TB test 8 times in a 12 month period, times 7 and 8 resulted in a lovely local allergic reaction, and I've reacted the two times I've had it since.


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## usafmedic45 (May 29, 2010)

> no one accepting each others tests



Then why not have the county health department do it?


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## Sandog (May 29, 2010)

Not to change the subject, but when I was six years old I went into Anaphylaxis after receiving a smallpox/cholera vaccine. So I have shot records stating I am allergic to this shot. Will this be a problem after I get my EMT cert and start applying for work? I ask because many of the agencies state a full vaccine must be done upon hire.


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## Aidey (May 29, 2010)

I have never been vaccinated for small pox or cholera or ever heard of it being a requirement for employment in the US. Overseas maybe, but I think that officially both of those diseases have been eradicated in the US.


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## Foxbat (May 29, 2010)

usafmedic45 said:


> Were you exposed to someone with it?  It seems a bit extreme to give you the prophylactic ABX simply for the positive skin test and no other indicators of possible infection.  Especially keeping in mind how many of the anti-tubercular medications can easily produce clinical toxicity or other problems.  It seems like the doc in question overreacted to the situations involving you or your supervisor unless you left something out of your post.


I don't know why the supervisor got his skin test and treatment; my family and I got these because it was required for getting a green card. We tested positive (chest X-rays were negative though) and were strongly recommended to be put on a regiment of isoniazid for 9 months, which we did. We have not been exposed to anyone with TB that we know of. Maybe the tests were positive because we had BCG vaccination; in Europe they account for BCG when doing skin test, while in the US they don't (or so I read).


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## usafmedic45 (May 29, 2010)

> my family and I got these because it was required for getting a green card



That explains it.  



> Maybe the tests were positive because we had BCG vaccination; in Europe they account for BCG when doing skin test, while in the US they don't (or so I read).



...and that explains that too. 



> So I have shot records stating I am allergic to this shot. Will this be a problem after I get my EMT cert and start applying for work?



If you have a legitimate medical reason to be excluded from something, they generally are pretty reasonable.  For example, I have never had a problem (even in the military) because of an inability to take the smallpox vaccine.  Also if you have a religious or moral objection to vaccination, you also can normally exempt yourself from those requirements. I know several people who (very stupidly, in my opinion) chosen not to take the hepatitis B vaccine over the years and none of them caught any crap for it.  They just have to sign the waiver stating the understand and accept the risks, etc.


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