PPD During Pregnancy

[male nurse]

As the infection control and employee health nurse of my hospital, I have been told by one of our doctors not to give the pregnant staff the PPD.  I due however think that this is not accurate.  This doctor tends to speak without knowing the answer just to look like he knows.  My research shows that the risk of having the germ out weighs any possibility of the PPD to your baby.  However, with that being said, I also beleive that a mother should make that decision on her own.  Using knowledge gathered from credible sources.

[WildKingdom]

Not sure what the point of this post is.

If you're asking if the PPD is safe for a pregnant woman, the answer is yes, it is.

[nia82]

I wouldn't do it for how painful it is,  yikes. Just offer the quantiferon gold blood test to your coworkers instead. 

[miriam]

For this dimwit, can you please tell what PPD is?  It also stands for post-partum depression.

[WildKingdom]

Originally Posted by miriam 

For this dimwit, can you please tell what PPD is?  It also stands for post-partum depression.

Purified Protein Derivative.  It's the TB skin test.

[WildKingdom]

Originally Posted by nia82 

I wouldn't do it for how painful it is,  yikes. Just offer the quantiferon gold blood test to your coworkers instead. 

Also a good, definitely risk-free suggestion.  Although, I don't find a PPD to be painful.

[nia82]

I found mine really painful, the way they dig around with the needle subdermally is much worse than the pain from a shot. I can't say I enjoyed it, a blood draw hurts much less. Plus, bonus - no need to come back to check for bumps. :) Reduces the amount of doctor/office visits.

[miriam]

.

Edited by miriam - 5/27/12 at 4:07pm

[WildKingdom]

Originally Posted by miriam 

otherwise known as the Mantoux Tuberculin Skin test?  It contains carbolic acid, phenol.  Why would a pregnant woman want that under her skin?   The blood test is better. A sputum test can be done also.

Wrong. A sputum test is not the same thing at all. It only checks for active pulmonary TB. it does not check for latent TB. 

[miriam]

I

Edited by miriam - 5/27/12 at 4:06pm

[ma2two]

Quote:

Originally Posted by male nurse 

As the infection control and employee health nurse of my hospital, I have been told by one of our doctors not to give the pregnant staff the PPD.  I due however think that this is not accurate.  This doctor tends to speak without knowing the answer just to look like he knows.  My research shows that the risk of having the germ out weighs any possibility of the PPD to your baby.  However, with that being said, I also beleive that a mother should make that decision on her own.  Using knowledge gathered from credible sources.

That's interesting.

The PPD is a category C drug, and it contains phenol and polysorbate 80. Why would a pregnant woman choose to be injected with that, when she could just have a blood test (Quantiferon) instead?

[Marnica]

Originally Posted by WildKingdom 

Not sure what the point of this post is.

If you're asking if the PPD is safe for a pregnant woman, the answer is yes, it is.

 I'm not quite sure how you can make such a definitive statement.There have been NO studies on the Mantoux skin test in pregnant women. "It is not known whether TUBERSOL (or any of the ones on the market take your pick) can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman or can affect reproduction capacity"  - Safety is assumed. Personally when there is a safe alternative, I don't see why the blood test is not standard for a pregnant women. The only scenario where I can see the use of the PPD justified in a pregnant woman is when she is considered particularly high risk and the blood test is not an option for whatever reason.