If you’ve ever been sick, chances are good that you’ve been to an urgent care facility. More than three million people visit their local urgent care centers each week and there are many benefits of visiting one if you’re feeling under the weather.


You might be thinking that an urgent care center can’t treat the illness or sickness you’re dealing with. Think again. In fact, the number of everyday symptoms and issues your local urgent care can treat might surprise you. The average urgent care facility can now treat ear infections, sexually transmitted diseases, muscle strain, dizziness, sprains, common sports injuries and many other common ailments that people deal with every single day.


Another treatment that urgent cares can be handy for is testing for tb infection. When it comes to testing for tb infection, there are two types of tests that can be administered: a TB blood test and a TB skin test. Whichever test you receive when testing for TB infection is usually going to be up to the health care professional who’s giving the test as well as the availability of a particular test.


The TB skin test is also known as the Mantoux tuberculin skin test and it requires a patient to make to visit to a health care facility; in this case, an urgent care. On the first visit, the test is placed and the test is read during the second visit.


How is the test done? It’s given by injected a tiny amount of fluid into the skin, usually on the lower part of a patient’s arm. The patient then returns within 48-72 hours for a health care professional to look at the reaction of the injection on the arm. If a person tests positive, additional testing is needed and a negative test means that a patient’s body didn’t react to the injection.

A TB blood test is also called a IRGA (interferon-gamma release assays). This test is a very simple one: a health care professional simply draw a patient’s blood and then sends it to a lab for testing. Once again, a positive test is going to require additional testing.


If you suspect you might have TB or you need testing for TB infection, visiting your local urgent care is a great way to get yourself checked out. You’ll get the answers you need from trusted health professionals and you’ll likely be in and out faster than if you went to your primary doctor.