Resolved question:
What is the chance that a Tuberculosis (TB) sputum culture test (that usually takes 2 months to get results), will be POSITIVE if the patient already took TB medication for 6 months about 5 months prior to the TB sputum culture test?
Submitted:
4 Days
Category:
Infectious Disease Specialist
Hello.
Thank you for your query at DoctorSpring.com.
I understand your concern.
The chances of culture turning out to be positive depends on the specific clinical diagnosis, previous culture results as well as the treatment given.
In a case of successfully treated Pulmonary Tuberculosis, sputum culture would be negative after completion of the anti-tubercular treatment.
However, if the infection was not eliminated either due to inadequate treatment or non-adherence to the treatment regimen, Tuberculosis can relapse, and culture can be positive in such cases.
In order to give my best opinion, I would need more details like:
-what type of tuberculosis was diagnosed before starting treatment,
-the exact treatment taken and whether it was taken regularly,
-results of sputum culture, two months after start of anti-TB medication and if that was positive, those repeated later,
-whether HIV negative or positive,
-and why was this sputum culture sent for now.
Please reply to the above as a follow-up and feel free to ask queries.
Kind regards.