What does a positive QuantiFERON gold test mean?
If your TST (Mantoux) or Quantiferon blood test was found to be positive, this means you have a latent TB infection, but usually not the active disease.
How accurate is QuantiFERON gold test?
The overall sensitivity for active TB was 87.5%, ranging from 62.5% in children 25–36 months old to 100% in children older than 49 months. The overall specificity for active TB was 93.6%. Among the 481 children tested for LTBI screening, 38 scored positive and all but 2 had at least one risk factor for TB infection.
What causes false positive QuantiFERON gold?
(1) False-positive results may occur in patients with prior infection with Mycobacterium marinum, Mycobacterium szulgai, or Mycobacterium kansasii. Indeterminate due to Low Mitogen Value: Indeterminate results due to a low IFN-gamma level in the mitogen (positive control) tube.
What is the difference between QuantiFERON gold and QuantiFERON Gold Plus?
QuantiFERON Gold Plus is the new, improved version of the QuantiFERON Gold TB test. This is the same test with the same fundamental principles, but is more advanced at detecting TB. The Gold Plus test has been optimized in such an innovative way with the TB-specific antigens that elicit CD8 and CD4 T cell responses.
Is QuantiFERON a blood test?
QuantiFERON-TB Gold (QFT) is a simple blood test that aids in the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria which causes tuberculosis (TB). QFT is an interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) release assay, commonly known as an IGRA, and is a modern alternative to the tuberculin skin test (TST, PPD or Mantoux).
How often should a QuantiFERON test be repeated?
The CDC guidelines on the use of QFT recommend that recent contacts who test QFT negative prior to 8 weeks after the end of exposure, be retested 8 to 10 weeks later—similar to the recommendations for the TST.
Is QuantiFERON better than PPD?
The QuantiFERON (QFT) blood assay tests for tuberculosis. Patients must get their blood drawn for a QuantiFERON exam. However, QFT candidates receive exam results in 48-72 hours. Compared to PPD wait times, QuantiFERON provides a sizeable advantage.
How long does a Quantiferon Gold take to process?
The QuantiFERON TB Gold In-Tube test is done by simply taking a small blood sample from the patient. To do this, a nurse will sterilize the arm, insert a needle to extract a vial of blood, then bandage the arm to ensure that there is no bleeding. The actual process of taking blood should only take about five minutes.
How much does a Quantiferon Gold test cost?
The cost of a Quantiferon TB Gold blood test in a laboratory setting will cost about $90 to $160 without a health insurance plan. The costs will depend on the lab you choose and if health insurance is involved. Accesalabs.com, for example, charges $149 for its test. WalkinLab.com, another lab online, will charge $148.
What does a positive Quantiferon Gold mean?
A positive response to the QuantiFERON Tb Gold Test indicates towards the infection with the Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Although it does not mean that the person has active TB, rather it simply means that the person has been exposed to the mycobacterium tuberculosis bacterium.
What to do with positive Quantiferon Gold?
The QuantiFERON®-TB Gold test (QFT-G) is a whole-blood test for use as an aid in diagnosing Mycobacterium tuberculosisinfection, including latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) and tuberculosis (TB) disease. This test was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2005.