Illnesses that potential OFWs need to be aware of

How these diseases can disrupt your dreams of working abroad

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Three of the most common infections that get flagged and need clearance from an infectious diseases specialist are: syphilis, hepatitis B, and latent tuberculosis.

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted venereal diseases from last week. Most of the syphilis that I see in the clinic is in the late latent stage. Many are shocked that they tested positive on the test since they don’t have any symptoms. Diagnosis of syphilis is with a blood screening test like an RPR or VDRL, coupled with a confirmatory test like a TPHA, anti-TP, TPPA, or FTA-ABS. I usually ask the patient for a full sexual history to estimate when he or she might have gotten infected.