As some of you know, I tested positive for Latent Tuberculosis. Latent TB is not infectious and doctors don't recommend treating for it. The test was based on something called Quantiferon Gold test. Apparently, this test has much higher accuracy. Also, the test results do not depend on whether you were vaccinated with TB in your childhood.
Background on Latent TB
I also found out that apparently fifty per cent of Indians test positive for this. So the Infectious Disease (ID) doctor was reasonably sure that this was not a false positive. Now comes to the challenging part. there is not enough data on what to do when a person with Latent TB becomes an organ donor. A major study with 20 doctors a few doctors came back with no consensus. Apparently, there are cases where the TB has been passed on to recipient. The reason for lack of consensus is that there is some risk for the donor. The latent TB treatment can cause liver damage to the donor.
The other area where there is lack of consensus is whether the transplant should wait till the treatment is complete. (The treatment itself depending on the medicine and dosage comes in the form of a 3 month, 4 month, and 9 month regimen).
I signed up for the 3 month regimen. This is the highest dosage and requires me to take the pills under the supervision of a nurse. I have to take one dose every week for the next 12 weeks. Luckily, the on campus Cisco clinic has agreed to provide me this service. This saves me a 2 hour trip to Stanford Clinic every week. Not to gross you out, a side effect of this medicine is that my urine on the first two days is orange (no kidding.)
Background on Latent TB
I also found out that apparently fifty per cent of Indians test positive for this. So the Infectious Disease (ID) doctor was reasonably sure that this was not a false positive. Now comes to the challenging part. there is not enough data on what to do when a person with Latent TB becomes an organ donor. A major study with 20 doctors a few doctors came back with no consensus. Apparently, there are cases where the TB has been passed on to recipient. The reason for lack of consensus is that there is some risk for the donor. The latent TB treatment can cause liver damage to the donor.
The other area where there is lack of consensus is whether the transplant should wait till the treatment is complete. (The treatment itself depending on the medicine and dosage comes in the form of a 3 month, 4 month, and 9 month regimen).
I signed up for the 3 month regimen. This is the highest dosage and requires me to take the pills under the supervision of a nurse. I have to take one dose every week for the next 12 weeks. Luckily, the on campus Cisco clinic has agreed to provide me this service. This saves me a 2 hour trip to Stanford Clinic every week. Not to gross you out, a side effect of this medicine is that my urine on the first two days is orange (no kidding.)
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