Tuberculin Skin Test
Why It Is Done
A tuberculin skin test is done to find people who have tuberculosis (TB), including:
- People who have been in close contact with someone known to have TB.
- Health care workers who are likely to be exposed to TB.
- People with TB symptoms, such as an ongoing cough, night sweats, and unexplained weight loss.
- People who have had an abnormal chest X-ray.
- People who have had a recent organ transplant or have an Reference impaired immune system Opens New Window, such as those with Reference human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) Opens New Window.
A tuberculin skin test should not be done for people:
- With a known TB infection.
- Who have had a previous severe reaction to the TB antigens.
- Who have a skin rash that would make it hard to read the skin test.
|By:||Reference Healthwise Staff||Last Revised: Reference April 15, 2011|
|Medical Review:||Reference E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine
Reference R. Steven Tharratt, MD, MPVM, FACP, FCCP - Pulmonology, Critical Care Medicine, Medical Toxicology