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Mary, a senior female, had a followup appt with her PCP today. PCP is young, inexperienced but trying to do things the right way.
Mary had labs done for a rheumatologist. Quite comprehensive, but a couple surprises. She had a positive result for IgG P41 (Borrelia) on Lyme Test. It was the only Lyme antibodies positive, yet called false positive(she had the bullseye rash in the early 80’s).
Other surprise is that the QuantiFERON-TB Gold was positive. It is an indication of latent/sleeping TB. Not active, but enough activity to create antibodies. She has no known TB exposure. PCP presumes this test is not a false positive because it is the “gold standard”, the deciding factor after a positive skin test and chest X-ray. Dr is already talking about reporting to CDC, Public Health nurse to monitor antibiotics, etc.
Dr has ordered chest X-ray to determine if active or latent TB. Also ordered HIV test because drugs used to treat latent TB appear to be a problem for people with HIV.
Is a positive QuantiFERON-TB Gold result common for ME/CFS/Fibro? What encouragement can I give Mary? Any hope for a false positive? Mary is very private person who doesn’t enjoy visitors in her home. Any alternatives for public health nurse home visit?
Mary had labs done for a rheumatologist. Quite comprehensive, but a couple surprises. She had a positive result for IgG P41 (Borrelia) on Lyme Test. It was the only Lyme antibodies positive, yet called false positive(she had the bullseye rash in the early 80’s).
Other surprise is that the QuantiFERON-TB Gold was positive. It is an indication of latent/sleeping TB. Not active, but enough activity to create antibodies. She has no known TB exposure. PCP presumes this test is not a false positive because it is the “gold standard”, the deciding factor after a positive skin test and chest X-ray. Dr is already talking about reporting to CDC, Public Health nurse to monitor antibiotics, etc.
Dr has ordered chest X-ray to determine if active or latent TB. Also ordered HIV test because drugs used to treat latent TB appear to be a problem for people with HIV.
Is a positive QuantiFERON-TB Gold result common for ME/CFS/Fibro? What encouragement can I give Mary? Any hope for a false positive? Mary is very private person who doesn’t enjoy visitors in her home. Any alternatives for public health nurse home visit?