Tuberculosis (commonly known as TB) is a bacterial infection that can affect any organ in your body but is most often found in the lungs. The disease is typically spread through the air when a person with TB sneezes or coughs onto nearby individuals. If not treated properly, TB can be fatal.
That’s why Dynacare now offers the QuantiFERON
®-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) blood test for detection of TB. Unlike the century-old TB skin test, the QFT test is more sensitive (95.3% vs. 71.5%) and more specific (97.6% vs. 78.0%). Other advantages of the QFT test include:
- It is not generally affected by a previous BCG (Bacille Calmette-Guérin) vaccination.
- It is not affected by most other environmental mycobacteria.
- It does not require a second patient visit. The skin test requires a second visit (within 48-72 hours) in order to read the test result.
- Results can be available within 2 - 10 days.
Talk to your healthcare provider if you think you are at risk and you would like the option of a simple blood test.