Ppd Form

What Is a PPD Test?

A PPD form or a Tuberculosis Skin Test is a tool used to diagnose a latent tuberculosis infection.

Tuberculosis is a serious disease that affects the lungs and is caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This bacteria spreads with the air exhaled by an infected person infected and can remain inactive in for years without showing any symptoms of contamination.

Tuberculosis can display active symptoms when the immune system becomes weakened by any other disease. The most common signs of infection include:

• fever;
• coughing;
• night sweats;
• rapid weight loss.

Tuberculosis (or TB) usually responds to medical treatment. drug-resistant tuberculosis, on the other hand, does not respond to antibiotics and is a public health hazard in many countries.

A PPD test is designed to check your body for signs of infection. The virus makes your body sensitive to certain elements of the bacteria, such as the purified protein derivative or PPD. A positive reaction to an injection of bacteria will show whether or not you have TB. A PDF-version of the TB test and questionnaire can be downloaded below.

How to Fill Out a PPD Skin Test Form

The test requires two visits to your health care provider's office.

During the first visit, your doctor will give you a shot and take your personal and medical information for the form. A tuberculosis risk assessment questionnaire includes information on:

• vaccinations;
• HIV status;
• alcohol consumption;
• drug use;
• autoimmune or other serious diseases;
• previous tuberculosis skin tests;
• occurring symptoms of tuberculosis, if any;
• possible risk factors, including history of working in a nursing home, shelter, prison or jail and homelessness.

Your doctor will then clean an area of your skin, usually the inside of your forearm. You will be given an injection that contains PPD. The needle is placed under the top layer of skin, and the injected derivative will cause a small welt to form. This bump will disappear as the material is absorbed.

You must return to your provider's office after a period of time from 48 to 72 hours. The doctor will then check the area to see if the reaction to the test is positive or negative.

What Does a PPD Test Mean?

If the skin around the area of the PPD injection is slightly swollen or shows no signs of swelling 48 to 72 hours after the injection, the test results are negative. A negative test result means that you have not been infected with tuberculosis-causing bacteria.

The amount of swelling differs depending on age group, health condition, and HIV-status. A small reaction is a positive result in individuals who:

• take steroids;
• have HIV;
• have received an organ transplant;
• have a weakened immune system;
• have been in close contact with someone who has active TB;
• have changes on a chest X-ray that appear to be the result of a previous TB infection.

A larger reaction of a third of an inch or more is a positive result in people who:

• have had a negative PPD skin test in the past two years;
• have diabetes, kidney failure, or other conditions that increase their TB risk;
• are healthcare workers;
• are intravenous drug users;
• are immigrants who’ve come from a country with a high TB rate in the past five years;
• are under the age of four;
• are infants, children, or adolescents who’ve been exposed to high TB-risk adults;
• live in prisons, nursing homes or homeless shelters.

Who Should Get a PPD Skin Test?

Tuberculosis is an extremely contagious disease ranked by the World Health Organization just below HIV and AIDS as the greatest global killer. Tuberculosis, however, is relatively rare in the United States with most of the infected people not showing any symptoms of the disease throughout their lifetime.

As a rule, all healthcare workers must get routine tuberculosis tests. Strongly consider getting a PPD skin test if:

• you have a weakened immune system as a result of taking medications;
• you have a weakened immune system due to certain diseases such as cancer, HIV, or AIDS;
• you’ve been around someone with TB.