Introduction
Ms. Q is a patient who was diagnosed with an HIV infection five years ago. She has continued to work as a receptionist at an insurance agency throughout this time. Although HIV is a contagious disease, one cannot contract it by touching or sitting next to infected person. Ms. Q recently took a tuberculin skin test, and the results came out positive. Since tuberculin is a very contagious disease, she has decided to share the results of her test with her co-workers and customers of the agency because of the risk she could cause them. Tuberculosis is an infectious disease cause by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTb) (Barnett, 2006). Almost all infections in human beings result from inhalation of infectious droplets coughed by people with pulmonary tuberculosis (Dewar & Curry, 2006). Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that affects the lungs as well as other parts of the body including skin. If left untreated, Mycobacterium Tuberculosis can lead to death. The vocational implications of the positive TB test to Ms. Q is that she can get treatment, but can eventually affect her employment status.
For many people, including Ms. Q’s customers and co-workers, the immune system of the body would suppress the disease. However, it would be necessary to everyone who had been in close contact with Ms. Q to be informed, if in any case she had an active TB. In normal circumstances, active tuberculosis is less frequent that a tuberculosis infection. As such, Ms. Q would not have been infectious to other people unless she had tested positive for active tuberculosis that had gone untreated. In cases where a healthy body is conducting its job, tuberculosis can remain dormant for years. However, since the disease can be contracted through the air by breathing in particles emitted when infected individuals cough, it is imperative that those people in close contact with Ms. Q take tuberculosis skin test to ascertain if they have a positive reaction to the bacteria. This could remain true if the disease was active and went unrecognized, and considering that, Ms. Q was not isolated during a possible active period of the infection. Whether the disease is latent or active plays a significant role in determining the employment status of Ms. Q.
A positive tuberculosis test might affect social an individual’s social experience, but in most cases testing positive for TB would affect an individual’s social experience much more than HIV. The main reason is that an individual with active or latent tuberculosis must remain isolated from other people because it can spread through droplets that come into the air from affected individuals (Barnett, 2006). The tuberculosis bacterium in droplet form can remain suspended in the air for a very long duration and can easily spread widely by air currents. Other diseases such s HIV only spread through blood, which does not make social experience of an individual a concern as they can interact with other people without spreading the disease. The only requirement for them is to refrain from engaging in intimate relations with other people. However, individuals with TB could spread the disease to anyone around them, since the bacterium can get its way into the air, so they must remain isolated from other people until after undergoing certain amount of treatment (Dewar & Curry, 2006). People who have tested positive for TB must remain isolated for sometime while taking treatment before they are not contagious anymore. This would help them to keep their families and friends from getting the disease.
If tested positive for tuberculosis as in the case of Ms. Q, the doctor may recommend taking some medication to reduce the risk of developing active tuberculosis. The only type of tuberculosis that is contagious is the active type, when it affects the lungs making the patient to cough (Doherty, 2004). In such case, the doctor may advice the patient to stay away from active population. In such case, the vocational implication of a positive TB test alone for Ms. Q is that she would have to take leaf for some weeks to undergo medication. Ms. Q will be forced to stay away from work and not share room with other people while undergoing treatment. Doctors usually recommend a physical isolation for a two-week period while undergoing treatment that makes the infection no longer being contagious (Doherty, 2004). Isolating Ms. Q due to her condition can affect her financial well-being. In such case, she will have an economic impact on her family, and consequently their national economies because she is not able to make financial contributions because they are often unable to perform as productive workers.
Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that people can contact through inhalation of air containing the bacterium causing tuberculosis. Ms. Q has tested positive for tuberculosis and has decided to share the information with her co-workers and customers. This is a good step toward ensuring that those at risk receive appropriate diagnosis and treatment if they have contacted the disease in any case. The disease has vocational implications on Ms. Q because it will eventually affect her employment status. She may be forced to take leave from work to receive treatment in order to make her not contagious to people around her.
References:
Barnett, M. (2006). COPD: The role of the nutse. Journal of Community Nursing, 20(2), 18-22.
Dewar, M., & Curry, R. W. (2006). Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: Diagnostic considerations. American Family Physician, 73(4), 669-676.
Doherty, D. E. (2004). The pathophysiology of airway dysfunction. American Journal of Medicine, 117 (Suppl 12A) 11S-23S.
