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Screening, Testing & Diagnosis

Screening & Testing for LTBI

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.

Screening and Testing for LTBI

Testing & Diagnosing Active TB Disease

If a person is found to be infected with TB bacteria, other tests are needed to rule-out/-in active 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.

Testing and Diagnosing Active TB Disease