New TB Testing Guidelines

Tuberculosis (TB), caused by the “acid-fast” microorganism, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), continues to be a significant public health problem, causing an estimated 1.5 million annual deaths worldwide. In 2016, new guidelines were published giving recommendations for the laboratory diagnosis of active TB disease and latent TB infection (LTBI) (see reverse for more details). Of note, it is now recommended that an interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) be performed instead of a tuberculin skin test (TST) on individuals 5 years of age or older who meet certain requirements.