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Testing & Diagnosis

Testing

Nurse reading a patient's skin test

There are two kinds of tests that are used to detect TB bacteria in the body: the TB skin test (TST) and TB blood tests.  A positive TB skin test or TB blood test only tells that a person has been infected with TB bacteria. It does not tell whether the person has latent TB infection (LTBI) or has progressed to TB disease. Other tests, such as a chest x-ray and a sample of sputum, are needed to see whether the person has TB disease.

Diagnosis

If a person is found to be infected with TB bacteria, other tests are needed to see if the person has latent TB infection or TB disease.

 

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