Did your preschool require a TB test for your child to attend?

[Anonymous]

Just realized last night that DD's new preschool requires a TB test on file or she's not allowed to begin (school starts Monday - thankfully we could get the test done today at the pediatrician and they will read the result Friday). The ped was surprised she needed one but I saw it last night as I was preparing her other paperwork - they said many of the DC preschools require it but ours is in VA.

Just curious - did yours require it and where are you located? It was such a pain today to try to cram it in at the last minute....

[Anonymous]

We had to have it for a preschool in DC.

[Anonymous]

Yes, we had to have it for our preschool in Fairfax.

[Anonymous]

Yup, we have to have it in DC.

[Anonymous]

Yep - in Arlington.

[Anonymous]

yes in Montgomery County

[Anonymous]

No in PG, but they should.

[Anonymous]

It's a DC requirement for licensure.

[Anonymous]

TB is a serious illness. They should require it for all students.

[Anonymous]

Yes, TB is a serious disease, but the AAP has issued a recommendation that only children deemed to be at risk according to certain guidelines be given the test. (I think the standard screening test only works once, so it makes sense to save it until someone is at risk of having been exposed.)

Arlington Public Schools changed its requirements in accord with the AAP recommendation.

[Anonymous]

Yes, Alexandria.

[Anonymous]

The Mantoux test works until you are exposed, become immunocompromised, or are vaccinated. I am tested at work every year.

[Anonymous]

According to my ped, it is a myth that the Mantoux Test cannot be used for kids who have had the BCG vaccination. Kids who get the vaccination will get a reaction to a Mantoux test, but a reaction does not equal a positive test. The size of the reaction is what matters. If the reaction is smaller than a certain amount of millimeters, it is negative. The size of the reaction should also decrease over time, but will never completely go away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Mantoux test works until you are exposed, become immunocompromised, or are vaccinated. I am tested at work every year.

This is an important point - if your child was born/adopted abroad and had the BCG vaccine, the Mantoux test is likely to give a false positive. There's a new bloodtest called the Quantiferon test, which gives a much more accurate result for such cases.

[Anonymous]

No - Vienna