Tuberculosis Testing Questions and Answers

As long as the urgent care has an on-site laboratory, they can offer tuberculosis (TB) tests, including tuberculin skin tests (TST) and TB blood tests, also known as interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs). With a TST, a small amount of tuberculin fluid is injected into the skin’s surface layer on the patient’s lower arm. After 48 to 72 hours, the patient is to return to the healthcare facility to have a health care professional analyze the results, which depends on the reaction caused by the fluid. With a TB blood test, a vial of blood is drawn from a vein in your arm and analyzed in a lab for the TB bacteria.

At Immediate Care of Oklahoma, we have on-site laboratories at all six of our locations. As such, we have the equipment, resources, and expertise to provide both TST and TB blood tests, in addition to several other diagnostic services and tests.

Most of the time, tuberculosis tests are not routinely screened unless you are a healthcare worker, or your employer requires TB testing as a pre-condition to hiring. As such, TB tests do not have an expiry date, per se. Instead, tuberculosis tests are usually done only when an individual has been exposed or is at a high risk of exposure to a suspected or confirmed case of tuberculosis, or if their workplace or school requires them to get tested for tuberculosis. In such instances in which your workplace or school requires routine tuberculosis tests, the number of years that your TB test is valid for will depend on the official guidelines of your place of work or education. As such, the test could be valid anywhere from two to four years, depending on how often your employers or school health officials desire you to get tested.

While healthcare workers are typically screened for tuberculosis more frequently than the rest of the population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not recommend that healthcare workers get a TB test every year. As such, it should be necessary for you to get tested for tuberculosis annually. When you come to Immediate Care of Oklahoma for tuberculosis testing, our doctors can let you know how frequently you should get tested for tuberculosis.

As far as tuberculin skin tests go, there is no known risk to having repeated tests done in the same year or even within the same week, for that matter! In fact, two-step TST tests typically involve two TB tests within one to four weeks of each other. Moreover, if an individual does not return to the healthcare facility after 48 to 72 hours of receiving a TST so that the health care professional can examine the test results, the test is to be repeated as soon as possible.

Whether you would like more information about tuberculosis testing or are looking for a clinic that provides safe and convenient TB tests, we would love for you to get in touch with us at Immediate Care of Oklahoma! Please feel free to call us or come to one of our six different locations for a walk-in appointment near you.