Tuberclosis - is there a concern

[masethung]

Hi , My wife is 30 yrs and has been having a recurring dry cough  - mainly after dinner prior to sleep or after having food. No coughing up  of blood or sputum etc, no fever and related symptoms. But this has been persistent for a month and increases when she gets out in the cold outside, is there a concern on this related to TB do i need to do a TB test for her? pls advise.

[mkh9]

It doesn't sound like she has any other symptoms of TB. Is she very fatigued or tired all the time? Did she have a flu before this or bad cold? If so she could have bronchitis or mycoplasma. It is a bacteria you can get after having the cold or flu and get lowered immunity. It takes a long time to get over and you have a dry hacking cough and it hurts in the rib area. If she see's a doctor they can listen to her lungs to see if there is inflammation and they can give her an antibiotic. If not then usually you get over this with time about 2 months. What country do you live in? Has she had the BCG vaccine? If so then you could see if they do the quantiferon gold TB test there. It is just a blood test that is pretty accurate and can tell if you have active TB. I don't think she has it but if they do this test it can "rule" it out.

regards,
mkh9

[masethung]

No she is active , tired only during mensus time, No she hasnt had flu or bad cold , sometimes is that she has too much of icecreams and has had an effect. we went through a complete health check up including a chest x ray and all parameters are normal ( is it still required to go for a sputum afb?), recently we went to a doctor and he gave taxim-0,allegra -180 and she took it for 3 days and cough has gone away, pls advise if there is still a reason to worry and to go for a sputum or mantoux test?

[mkh9]

Since she responded to an allergy medication it may be related to allergy or asthma type of thing. If there was TB they would have seen something on the Xray. If mycoplasma she would usually have had a flu or had an immunity problem. So it sounds like allergy. You can still test using the quantiferon gold test if you want. But the Xray didn't show anything. TB can't should up in other areas but she is coughing so it would have shown up on the lungs. I would keep taking the Zyrtec or Allegra since that works. There is a daytime one that makes you less tired. She can consult with an allergist to try to find the cause. It can be a new plant, or something she is exposed to or perfume etc.
mkh9

[masethung]

Tks for the same , yes x ray was perfectly normal and her coughing as i told has not been continuous and only when exposed to cold or after having dinner and its for only a short period of time may be 5 to 10 min and then subsides , will continue to take allegra and me and my kid (4 yrs) have been around her and both are perfectly fine as i believe both active TB an mycoplasma are very contagious as well....

[mkh9]

Mycoplasma isn't contagious. You get it only if you are run down (immunity is low).  TB is infectious. It takes time to get it. Since you are around a lot you would have it by now. But you don't always get symptoms from it right away. You can carry it for years.  It does sound like allergy at this point. If you are really worried about TB get the quantiferon gold assay done. If not see an allergist to try to see what she is allergic to. You can try to have her think of things that she has been using or around that are new since this started and start either eliminating all aerosols and plants or other perfumes etc. and see if it goes away and add one back at a time. If it comes back with one or more of these that might be the culprit.
mkh9

[masethung]

ok tks for your feedback and clarifications , will observe on medication for allergy and then see if it requires a testing further, just another question TB is  curable right? and generally once exposed what is the time frame for consistent medication to resolve the condition..?

[mkh9]

Yes TB is curable. But there are 4 antibiotics you have to take. So it can make you feel not so good. There are some very rare strains that are very resistant. Those are not treatable. But there have been only a few in the history of TB so far. The rest are treatable.It takes about 6-9 months of treatment. You can't go off the drugs even if you feel sick unless of course you are allergic. Then they give you something else. They usually don't treat unless you have disease. Meaning if you are a carrier. They may not treat you. You can be treated with a lesser drug treatment if you are just a carrier so that you never develop disease. So, sometimes they give you just 1 drug if no disease and are a carrier.
mkh9

[masethung]

tks just wanted to know and keep me updated on the same . My wifes cough has completely stopped now and i have had a chest xray done as well and its completely normal , so i dont think i have something to worry as of now

[mkh9]

That is great. Hope all goes well.
mkh9

[catlady257]

I would definitely call your primary care doctor and schedule an appointment.

I have a few questions....

Does your wife smoke?
Does she have asthma or any other respiratory conditions such as COPD?
Do you smoke around her?
Does she work in a factory with fumes or particles that could be inhaled?
Does she have a family history of lung cancer?
Is she in relatively good health?
Have you traveled outside of the country recently?

While I don't necessarily think its TB, it certainly needs to be addressed.

[masethung]

No she does not smoke , we went through a complete health check up including a chest x ray and all parameters are normal , no history of lung cancer in family , we met a doctor and he prescribed taxim-o and allegra -180 for 3 days and now the cough has gone away , is there some other test or screening which i need to do  for her?