Island County Health Department offers
Tuberculosis testing at the following sites and times:
For more
information please call Community and Family Health at 679-7351 or 321-5111 ext
7351 . . . or on Camano please call 387-0184
We will assist with evaluation and treatment (DOT) if indicated. There is a fee of $25 for the testing.
TB (tuberculosis) is caused by an organism called Mycobacterium
tuberculosis that is spread from person to person through the air. Tuberculosis
organisms are sometimes called tubercle bacilli. When a person with infectious TB disease
coughs or sneezes, droplet nuclei containing tubercle bacilli may be expelled into the
air. Other people may inhale the air containing these droplet nuclei and become infected.
TB infection begins when the tubercle bacilli multiply in the small air
sacs of the lungs. A small number enter the bloodstream and spread throughout the body,
but the body's immune system usually keeps the bacilli under control. People who have TB infection
but not TB disease do not have symptoms of TB, and they cannot spread TB to
others. They usually have a positive reaction to the tuberculin skin test. (At this
point in the infection, preventive therapy with oral medication may be prescribed after a
medical evaluation and Chest x-ray. This treatment will prevent the development of active
disease)
In some people who have TB infection, the immune system cannot keep the
tubercle bacilli under control and the bacilli begin to multiply rapidly, causing TB disease.
This can happen very soon after infection, or many years after infection. About 10% of
people who have TB infection will develop disease at some point, but the risk is greatest
in the first year or two after infection, than for other people.
TB disease usually occurs in the lungs (pulmonary TB), but it can
also occur in other places in the body (extrapulmonary TB). Miliary TB
occurs when tubercle bacilli enter the bloodstream and are carried to all parts of the
body, where they grow and cause disease in multiple sites.
Learn more about
Tuberculosis on "Medline"
How do we test for TB?
QuantiFERON-TB
Test
Tuberculosis
and airline travel
|
DoH TB Program
*Clinicians Please Note:
Latent
TB; Current Recommendations
QuantiFERON-TB Test
Interactive Core
Curriculum on TB
What Clinicians Should Know
Extensively Drug Resistant TB
FAQ
Epidemiology of
Tuberculosis
History of Tuberculosis
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy Today
The 'Recent' TB Epidemic
(dated, but accurate)
"Direct Observed Therapy"
(DOT)
(also dated)
|
