I tested Positive for TB, now what?

6-7 years ago I took a TB skin test as part of my physical to enter college. The skin test came back positive and my X-ray was negative. The health department told me from now on to just have an X-ray taken..... then they sent me hope without any follow-up information.

Should they / I follow up on this? I am concerned obviously because of TB recently being in the news. From what I research years ago, since my X-ray was negative I am only a carrier of the TB bacterium but don't have active TB so I am not contagious and will not have any complications. It made it seem like the TB was similar to Chicken Pox.... I will ALWAYS have Chicken Pox, but will never show symptoms or be contagious.

How wrong am I?

After testing positive, they should have given you a round of meds. When I went to college about 9 years ago, I too tested +, they took x-rays - all was well. Then they gave me about 6 months of pills and after taking them, i have about a million to one chance of ever getting active TB.

You will ALWAYS be a carrier, like myself, but the TB will be barren unless for some reason it activates. Thats why they gave me meds to keep mine from ever becoming active.

Check out:

WebMD - www.webmd.com

and...

Centers for Disease Control - www.cdc.gov (I think)

I find it hard to believe that the advice you were given was wrong - TB is TB, and any health official would know to warn you, so I really want to think that they knew what they were doing with you. Nonetheless, it's probably the responsible thing for you to call your doctor, ask exactly this question, and see if he/she needs to see you ASAP.

you should have an annual chest xray, if you convert to active, there are medications that you and your family members would need to take

There is a vaccine for TB so if you ever got that vaccine it will definately skew the skin test.

Once you are a carrier you're pretty much a carrier for life. Hopefully being sick won't trigger your TB so becareful of your health. I wouldn't worry too much about it if you have a strong immune system and you take good care of yourself.