Mr Lee

Had to have a TB test for a job I've applied for working with kids...


...and it showed up positive!

The people in the clinic were a bit shocked and didn't know what to do as they'd never seen a positive result before.
(Not as shocked as I was though).

The doctor was asking if I'd lived anywhere other than the UK and Canada where there was a risk of TB - maybe a third world country. I told him I did use to live near the Yorkshire border...

I then told him I thought I'd be immune as I'd had a BCG when I was 15. The guy looked at me like I was some kind of idiot; then it struck me. Of course I'd get a positive result because of my BCG what with all those antibodies floating around and what have you! He kept mentioning to the other doctors that I'd "neglected to mention that I'd had a BCG shot".

The truth is, naturally I neglected to mention it because I thought that everybody in the Western world had a BCG injection when they were in their teens. Apparently not in North America.
How was I to know they didn't give them here?!?
Just to be sure, I had to get a chest x-ray there and then. Great fun with a hyperactive two year old son trying to escape my custody at every opportunity. And I was there for two hours!!!

So - cautionary note for anyone getting a TB test. Remember to mention the week of pain you endured as a teenager when everybody kept thumping your upper arm...

daft batty

And remember once you have had a positive Mantoux test, you dont have any more.

I had all that hassle with mantoux tests and then canadians not believing the British results and insisting I had another one. Then when I did Public Health said I shouldnt have had one.

So, once a"positive" Mantoux, it will always be, so dont have anymore.