TB Testing is available by appointment. You must be able to return within 48 to 72 hours following your skin test to have it read. Please notify your health care worker if you have ever had a "positive" reaction to a TB skin test or if you have been treated with TB drugs in the past.
Tuberculosis Facts:
- Tuberculosis (TB) is spread through the air from one person to another. TB germs are passed through the air when someone who is sick with TB coughs, speaks, laughs, sings, or sneezes. Anyone near the sick person can breathe TB germs into their lungs.
- TB germs can live in the body without making a person sick. This is called latent TB infection. This means the TB germs are inactive (sleeping). The inactive germs cannot be passed to anyone else.
- TB disease causes illness when TB germs are active (multiplying in the body). These germs usually attack the lungs. They can also attack other parts of the body, such as, the kidney, brain, or spine. People with TB disease may spread the germs to people they spend time with every day.
- If you have been around someone who has TB disease, go to your doctor or your local health department for testing.
- A positive TB test only indicates that a person has been infected with TB germs. It does not tell whether or not the person has progressed to TB disease. Other tests, such as a chest x-ray and a sputum sample are needed to see whether the person has TB disease.
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