Q: One of my friends tested positive for Mantoux test. Does that mean she is suffering from tuberculosis? The doctor has given doses for R-Cinex, and she has vomiting and dizziness after she started taking the medicine. Is this a normal expected side effect of the TB drug? Please advise.

A:A positive Mantoux test means that the person has been exposed to TB organisms sometime in the past and it does not necessarily mean that she has active tuberculosis. The doctor would need some definitive evidence that your friend has active TB either in the lungs, glands or somewhere else in the body. In other words, more investigations are needed to make a confident diagnosis. Please get in touch with the doctor and discuss it with him so that further investigations are carried out, if necessary. Vomiting and dizziness may be caused by a drug or may be part of the original problem for which she went to consult the doctor. In any case, she will need to discuss the whole matter with the doctor.