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Sputum Testing Results. Positive/Negative

Posted by lorrainewenn @lorrainewenn, Jan 15 3:30pm

I’m confused regarding my sputum sample results. I’ve been submitting my sputum samples to Mayo Clinic for 10 months and have tested positive for MAC three times.
May, July, and now December. My CT scans are considered stable and have one area that my doctor does not believe is a cavity. I’m doing airway clearance two times per day with 7% saline. My Dr said that there is transient MAC, I see her next week and I wanted to know if this is common , go months without MAC then get reinfected.
Your thoughts are appreciated.
Lorraine

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Mentor
Sue, Volunteer Mentor | @sueinmn | Jan 15 11:45pm

@lorrainewenn I like your doctor's term "transient MAC".

How many samples do you submit each time? My doctor's protocol was 3 samples from 3 different mornings each time. I actually had times when only one of the three would show positive for MAC and my doc would call it "incidental" - saying it may have come from my mouth or sinuses and not my lungs.

I hope airway clearance with saline continues to keep you well. It was a game changer for many of us who had trouble clearing up MAC even with the 3 antibiotics.

While I was on antibiotics, one time I only produced a single specimen and it was negative, two months later all 3 were positive again.

So it is entirely possible to be up and down

REPLY
1 reply
cwal | @cwal | Jan 16 5:36am

My thought:
Perhaps there didn't happen to be any MAC in the specimen you produced and not necessarily that you were negative for the MAC itself. Sometimes we are able to produce a better sample than others which may account for the back and forth results.

REPLY
lorrainewenn | @lorrainewenn | Jan 16 9:04am
In reply to @sueinmn "@lorrainewenn I like your doctor's term "transient MAC". How many samples do you submit each time?..." + (show)
@sueinmn

@lorrainewenn I like your doctor's term "transient MAC".

How many samples do you submit each time? My doctor's protocol was 3 samples from 3 different mornings each time. I actually had times when only one of the three would show positive for MAC and my doc would call it "incidental" - saying it may have come from my mouth or sinuses and not my lungs.

I hope airway clearance with saline continues to keep you well. It was a game changer for many of us who had trouble clearing up MAC even with the 3 antibiotics.

While I was on antibiotics, one time I only produced a single specimen and it was negative, two months later all 3 were positive again.

So it is entirely possible to be up and down

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Thank you, that makes sense.

REPLY
helen1000 | @helen1000 | Jan 17 10:39am

I had a negative culture in November with a cavity (2cm), crazy! I agree that we have to look at three things:
1) CT 2) Culture 3) Symptoms.

REPLY
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