Rifampicin

[glastochick]

Hi

Question for the medically trained here.

I have to administer Rifampicin to one of the cats (he has TB). I've only just started administering it, and the vet said to make sure not to get it on my skin and to wear gloves when administering it. He's not appreciating my attempts and some has splashed on to my skin, although it has been washed off immediately.

He's not a huge fan of DH and is very much 'my cat' IYSWIM. However, we both tried administering the drug this morning as he wasn't cooperating with me, and he just got even more stressed, so getting DH to be the sole drug giver isn't going to work.

Not due to see a midwife until Friday, so thought I'd ask here as the vet wasn't sure what risks, if any, there might be to the baby. Currently 33+6.

The only info I can find on the internet relates to the risk to the baby if a pregnant woman is taking it as treatment, rather than administering it.

Does anyone know if there are any risks?

TIA
x

TBH I doubt there would have been any studies done to assess the risk of getting a small amount of the drug splashed on the skin so all data/info you are likely to find will relate to the risk of pregnant women taking the drug. The vet was (and rightly so) being cautious to advise you to avoid the unnecessary exposure of yourelf to the drug to avoid any possible unknown/small risk. I would seriously doubt that there is any significant risk to your baby from what has happened.
Without wanting to cause panic, the thing that would concern me slightly more about your post is the risk from the TB itself. While risk is small TB has the potential to transmit between species. There would be theoretical risk that a person could get TB from a cat (although from what I have read highly unlikely as cats do not tend to cough up/out much spit). However I think it is possible that a cat could contract TB from a human (and possibly an undiagnosed human so you wouldn't necessarily know) in which case if your cat has been exposed to TB from a human source so might you have been. I'm talking about scenarios that would not be very common here and I'm sure its much more likey the TB came from something you have not been exposed to e.g. unpasturised milk. Do you know how your cat got TB? Have you ever been tested/vaccinated?