The QuantiFERON is the trademark of an interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) manufactured by QIAGEN, a German company that manufactures sample and assay technologies for various purposes. QuantiFERON -TB Gold or QFT-G in short, is a blood test which is used for diagnosing Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, an infection responsible for TB. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved this test. Let’s Know More About QuantiFERON Tb Gold Test Cost.
QuantiFERON Tb Gold Test Cost
The QuantiFERON Tb Gold Test is a bit expensive because of the technology it uses in developing tools for the early diagnosis and treatment of TB. The cost of the QuantiFERON Gold test ranges from $149 to $208 in different labs across the U.S.
The majority of the health insurance companies in the U.S. cover the cost of the QuantiFERON TB Gold test. Therefore, it is recommended that you go through your insurance policy paper first to ensure that it covers the cost of the test before getting tested.
Why take the QuantiFERON TB test?
To understand the necessity of taking the QuantiFERON TB test, you need to know about tuberculosis first:
What is tuberculosis?
Tuberculosis (TB), is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, an infection that causes TB. AT its primary stage, it infects the lungs but over time it could also spread to other body parts such as the brain, kidney, heart and spine. It is highly contagious and spreads through the droplets in the air sneezed or coughed by a person infected with TB. It is one of the world’s leading infectious diseases that causes death.
Types of tuberculosis
There are two types of TBs:
Active TB:
If someone shows the symptoms of TB infection, such as continuous coughing, coughing blood, pain in the chest, rapid weight loss, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, and sweating at night, they are said to be infected with an active TB infection. Which indicates that they are also spreading the disease.
Latent TB:
When someone is infected with TB infection but does not show any signs of it, it indicates that they have a latent TB infection. This type of TB infection can become active at any time of your life and can make you sick.
This is where the QuantiFERON TB Gold test becomes necessary. If you have an active infection of TB you can easily identify that and seek medical attention. However, in the case of latent TB infection, there is only one way to know whether you are infected with TB infection or not, and that is by getting yourself tested. If you are diagnosed with latent TB, you can then seek treatment for it, which would save you from a huge amount of undesirable pain.
What would happen if left untreated?
If it is not treated at the earlier stage, tuberculosis would spread to other organs as well like the kidney, liver, brain and spine. It can cause heart problems, spinal pain, damage in the joints, meningitis, liver and kidney disorders and even death.
Conclusion
Tuberculosis is a deadly disease. Fortunately, it is completely treatable. But as the saying goes “Prevention is better than cure”, seeking medical help at the earliest sign of it would save you from a lot of pain and expenses. Furthermore, if someone in your family has ever been diagnosed with it, taking the QuantiFERON TB Gold test would be the best idea. QuantiFERON TB Gold tests are highly sensitive to the tuberculosis infection and therefore can detect it at an early stage of the infection. This test is widely used for detecting latent TB in the United States.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What does a negative IGRA mean on QuantiFERON?
A negative IGRA does not necessarily mean that you don’t have the mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. In many cases, it has been notified that patients with TB have shown negative results in the tests. Similarly, a positive IGRA does not necessarily indicate infection either. Sometimes non-tuberculosis mycobacteria cause a positive IGRA.
- How often QuantiFERON testing is required?
Regular testing is required for the person who has to be around TB patients or a person who has someone suffering from TB in their family to take care of. If your job does not necessitate being around TB patients, you don’t need to have yourself tested that often.
- Is tuberculosis still a problem in the US?
The United States has the lowest reported cases of TB in the world. The cases of TB were at the lowest in 2019. In 2021, there were 7860 cases in the United States (according to CDC data). But it does not mean that it is not a problem anymore.
- Can the QuantiFERON TB Gold test distinguish between active TB and latent TB?
Despite being very sensitive and specific in nature, QFT-G cannot distinguish between active tuberculosis disease and latent TB infection. Just like other IGRAs, it cannot replace clinical judgement.
