Exposed 2 year old

[Gmrk]

My son recently had exposure to someone with active TB...we are waiting for blood test results and chest X-ray results for him and myself. However they have already started him on antibiotics for the next 10 weeks...is this typical? Anyone else have experience with this prior to diagnosis. Nothing for myself just a blood draw. It was just a whirlwind at the appointment and now my mind is going like crazy. Thanks!

[Gmrk]

Bump up...anyone have experience with this?

[Soul01]

Sorry. I don’t have any experience of this. Doctors don’t usually treat children unless they think it is really necessary.

[Gmrk in reply to Soul01]

Thanks...that’s kinda where my concern was coming from...I kinda felt like it was a bit overkill doing 10 weeks of antibiotics prior to even knowing if my son was infected...I get that it might not initially be detected in the blood and he can test positive anytime from now until 10 weeks. I just kinda felt like this was a lot for just being exposed. But every child under 5 that was exposed to the positive worker is now on antibiotics...along with getting two blood draws and a chest X-ray.

[HelenC Partner TB Alert]

Hi Gmrk,

Apologies for the delay in responding and I am sorry to read of the distressing situation that your family is experiencing.

It is usual for doctors to begin TB treatment before test results under certain circumstances.

The first is if they strongly suspect someone is ill with active TB - as the benefit of starting treatment early outweigh the risks of mistaken diagnosis. The the second is if they feel that's someone's risks of developing TB after exposure are particularly high. In the scenario, treatment is used to prevent TB from developing rather than to treat it.

Given the age of your son - whose immune system will still be developing - and the length of treatment he has been prescribed, I suspect it is this second scenario at play.

I hope this information provides some reassurance.

Best wishes,

Helen

[Gmrk in reply to HelenC]

Thank you so much! It’s definitely a stressful situation but hopefully we get the all clear after these 10 weeks. Thankfully my son has no issue taking the medication so it’s really not inconveniencing us much for these 10 weeks.

Someone at our son’s pediatric office was tb positive and he had direct exposure with this individual prior to diagnosis...so many families have been impacted. It’s just new territory for us and I want to make sure we are doing the best for our son. Thank you for your reply.

[HelenC Partner TB Alert]

Glad to be able to help. I hope the remaining weeks go quickly and smoothly.