Tuberculosis, or TB, is a type of infection. It’s caused by exposure to bacteria and often attacks your lungs. However, it can attack other areas. Once you’re diagnosed with TB, it can take anywhere from six months to two years to fully treat.
Testing for TB can be done with a blood test for TB quantiferon/TB gold. A medical professional can decide if it’s necessary to test for tuberculosis based on your symptoms, risk factors, and possible exposures. Learning a little more about this disorder and the blood test for TB quantiferon/TB gold may actually help put your mind at ease.
Do You Need a Blood Test for TB Quantiferon/TB Gold?
Before a medical professional recommends at a blood test for TB quantiferon/TB gold, you may first receive a skin test. After taking your medical history and completing an examination, the medical professional inject a substance into your skin right below the surface. A certain reaction on your skin after two or three days can help determine whether or not you have TB.
The skin test is not as accurate as a blood test for TB quantiferon/TB gold because false positives are fairly common. A blood test can be used for a more accurate diagnosis.
It can help the medical professional you see determine your risk factor and what type of test should be used if you know the symptoms of TB:
- Coughing consistently for three weeks or longer
- Coughing up blood
- Fever, chills, or night sweats
- Fatigue
- Pain in your chest when breathing or coughing
- Weight loss and loss of appetite
You may still have TB even if you present with no symptoms. This is called latent TB. Some information that may help a medical professional determine your risk for this type of tuberculosis include whether or not you were vaccinated as a baby, if you’ve recently traveled to another country, if you live with someone who has TB, or if you have HIV or AIDS.
To get tested for TB, get a definitive diagnosis, and learn about effective treatment options, trust your neighborhood FastMed Urgent Care clinic. We have on-site labs to get you your test results as fast as possible and if testing it outside the scope of our in-house labs, we will manage the referral from scheduling the appointment to the digital transfer of all necessary medical records.
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