This information sheet discusses the steps taken to diagnose TB disease. It describes the symptoms of TB and explains how an individual suspected of having TB is evaluated using the following: medical history, physical examination, skin test or special TB blood test, chest radiograph, microbiological tests, and finally tests for drug resistance.
In a question and answer format, this information sheet discusses testing for tuberculosis (TB). There are two kinds of tests that are used to determine if a person has been infected with TB bacteria: the tuberculin skin test (TST) and TB blood tests.
This information sheet discusses the bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine for TB disease, which is used in many countries to prevent childhood tuberculous meningitis and miliary disease. It explains why the BCG is not generally recommended for use in the United States; suggests that the BCG should be considered under specific circumstances; and provides recommendations for when the BCG should be used with children and health care workers and contraindications when it should not be used, such as for immunosuppressed persons and pregnant women.
This fact sheet discusses TB and how it is affected by the HIV. It defines TB and explains the difference between TB infection and latent TB infection. The fact sheet advises that HIV weakens the immune system increasing the chance that in people with HIV and latent TB, the TB germs will become active and attack the body causing TB disease. It emphasizes the importance of TB treatment and taking the TB drugs as prescribed.
This information sheet discusses TB and the risk for international travelers. It explains TB transmission, multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strains of the disease, and how drug resistance occurs. The information sheet considers whether international travelers are at risk of MDR or XDR TB while traveling, the risk of acquiring TB on an airplane, how TB can be prevented, TB vaccine, and what an individual should do before traveling internationally and if an individual thinks that he/she may have been exposed to someone with TB disease.
