I've been exposed to tuberculosis

[self biased]

own goal. ultimately it depends on the subject at hand.

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by Mrs. Tuberski


sorry i have a uterus what can i say

Ditto.

[Dr Strangelove]

Do you know how to actually measure the diameter of the reaction of a TB test? If there is a circular red area of reaction you take a ballpoint pen, place the tip on the skin on one side of the area a few millimeters away. Gently move the tip of the pen towards the center, drawing a line, until you meet a sort of ledge or increased resistance. That's the edge of the area of 'induration". Now move to the opposite side and do the same thing, then measure the distance between the ends of the two lines. That gives you the size of the reaction. A positive reaction is 5 mm for a high risk person (AIDS, steroids, immunosuppressants, transplant recipient, etc.), 10 mm for intermediate risk persons (health care workers) and 15 mm for low risk persons.

[Tiamat]

So her little measuring ruler with the circles was not accurate? Personally I don't think she knows what she's doing. Am going to follow with my doctor and get retested again in a few weeks, or will that cause any type of problem?

[Mr. Harley]

Tia - I don't know the law in Texas, but in many states you should be off on paid time off if the exposure was work related. What you need to do is ask your supervisor who could change your sick leave/vacation to paid (due to work related illness/tests) status

Work your way up the approval chain. Very sweetly explain that a friend explained that this should have been a paid abscence without your being charged leave, and you wanted to check on it. Find a tactful way to tell them that you can check with the local or state Health Department to see when the TB status of that patient was reported, but that you would really just like to have it dealt with internally. Unless they are utter morons, they should get the hint.

Don't blow it off because "you have the leave". You'll never know when you need it, and if you do come down with TB it will provide some documentation. Hope you're do OK.

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Tiamat
So her little measuring ruler with the circles was not accurate? Personally I don't think she knows what she's doing. Am going to follow with my doctor and get retested again in a few weeks, or will that cause any type of problem?

You can use the little circle thing, but you're supposed to measure the diameter of the induration, not the diameter of erythema.

As far as what Hurley says you might get workman's comp to cover doctor's visits and treatment, but you're not going to be allowed to take off the entire time you're under treatment if they decide that you need prophylactic chemotherapy. It doesn't sound like you have active disease so there is no reason why you can't continue working.

[Mr. Harley]

Dr. Strangelove, it depends on how the case was handled - I've been a Union rep in multiple states. That's why I mentioned to her about talking about the date the TB was reported, etc. In the case of normal workplace "injuries", which should include TB in normal circumstances (sometimes the state/local office sees its job as denying claims, then you have a fight).

However, if her exposure is due to negligence, the business, again depending on state law, is liable for her entire pay, including shift differentials. In fact, interestingly enough, in some states, like our neighbor in Ohio, once the case is declared "workman's comp" you can no longer sue, even when the individual was killed. We had a case in Cincinnatti concerning a ditch-digging company that had not exercised proper safety procedures and a ditch collapsed, crushing the man's chest and suffocating him (the company had a similar fatality several years earlier).

At first the federal workman's comp people stated they would find improper procedures were followed, but then they changed the report and the family couldn't sue. Technically, they can but the cases are generally considered unwinnable because the burden of proof criteria change. Thankfully in my old workplace the rules were only federal, once state rules get involved it can become even more convoluted.

Tia is MUCH better off being on paid company time while undergoing prophylactic treatment. Of course listening to her description I doubt, no, we know, they are going to be anxious to admit this.

Tia - you should start job hunting. It sounds like the management team at your facility, or at least your job section, is not exactly impressive. You DO NOT NEED THE EXTRA STRESS, especially with the big C looming as a possibility. To the quote from Dune "Fear is the mind killer" I have the following addendum "and stress is the body killer." There are good facilities, however, since they have a low turnover (I wonder why? - maybe because the workers are happy) you'll have to network to find them and then keep at it until they have one of their occasional vacancies.