Latent TB and Why I Care...

Even before Trisha turned one, her pediatrician had advised the possibility of doing a test to rule out "Primary Complex" due to the slow increase of her weight. We initially thought that Trisha didn't need the test because aside from the slow weight gain, she had no other symptoms that would suggest she had primary complex. She rarely gets sick and her milk intake was normal. Our only problem was she prefers chips, chocolates and candies to real food. Her doctor even accepted the fact that maybe she was just petite.

And then just 2 weeks ago when we went for her monthly check-up, her pediatrician advised us that it was better to have Trisha undergo the test just to be sure because she was concerned that at her age, she was still at less than 10kgs. And so last week, we had her tested (procedure was to inject a TB-like substance under the surface of the skin). We had to wait for 2 days before we would know the results. We were hoping that it was nothing but her test results came out positive. However, her doctor said that she has no primary complex but what she has instead was referred to as "latent TB". She said that Trisha might have been exposed to someone who has TB. Anyway, she ordered an X-ray to be done just to be sure that it was really not a primary complex. I'm glad it was not.

But since Trisha has latent TB, it still needs to be treated. Her doctor prescribed a medicine that she needs to take for 9 months. Poor Trisha! Looking at the bright side, at least there is a way to prevent her from developing active TB. Cases like these may be normal but it still affects us as parents to think that our daughter has it. =(

But what is Latent TB?

According to Wikipedia... "Latent tuberculosis is where a patient is infected with Myobacterium tuberculosis, but does not have active tuberculosis disease. Patients with latent tuberculosis are not infectious, and it is not possible to get TB from someone with latent tuberculosis. The main risk is that approximately 10% of these patients will go on to develop active tuberculosis at a later stage of their life. The identification and treatment of people with latent TB is an important part of controlling this disease."

I also found an article comparing Latent vs Active TB here. Basically, a latent TB can be compared to a dormant volcano. Once it comes out of hibernation and explodes, it becomes active. This is the same case with latent TB, once it turns active, then it's referred to as active TB. Makes sense huh? =) Anyway, the great news is latent TB can be prevented from becoming active by taking medication which would kill the TB bacteria. Here's a useful link on how to treat latent TB.

Bottomline here is, there's really nothing to worry about but of course as parents, we can't help but worry especially if it's our child who has it. That's human nature!