Detecting Tuberculosis: Use of LTBI or TB Booster Testing

Tuberculosis, TB, continues to be a leading health concern in many parts of the world. For individuals who are at risk for HIV infection or other substance abuse related disease, there is an increased risk for acquiring TB as well. With infectious disease a leading concern among many healthcare settings, screening patients is vital to protecting staff and other residents in the facility.

For some individuals, especially those who are entering drug rehab or have a history of drug abuse or HIV exposure, there is a need to perform routine testing for tuberculosis. For many carriers of TB, the infection may be latent, with the carrier not even aware they carry the disease. As a result, there are healthcare professionals who now practice targeted TB skin screening in specific demographics of the U.S. population.

The latent tuberculosis infection, LTBI, screening test is common practice in many healthcare settings. If you, or someone you love, is undergoing treatment for substance abuse, and may utilize the services of a drug rehabilitation facility, it will most likely become the common practice of the facility to conduct LTBI screening. In addition to LTBI screening, the need for HIV screening is also supported.

Unfortunately, in many HIV patients with a history of drug abuse, there is a risk for TB infection without a positive screening. Because the tuberculosis virus is hard to detect when HIV is present, many patients do not receive treatment promptly. As a result, these individuals may place not only themselves, but society as a whole, at risk.

To offset this risk, when an individual is suspected of a prior history of drug abuse, or is about to enter drug counseling or rehabilitation, the use of a double screening TB test is usually ordered. In this testing process, the tuberculosis test is administered, initially, with the patient following up within 72 hours for reading. When the test was negative, a second TB screening test was done, serving as a booster to the first. Within 48 hours of this second reading, the patient's test results would be read to determine if tuberculosis was a potential health risk.