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latent tuberculosis infection

a latent (inactive) tuberculosis (tb) infection is the presence of tb bacteria in a person's lungs even though they do not have symptoms of tb (such as coughing, weight loss, fatigue, or fever).

a person with latent tuberculosis infection has no signs of active tb on a chest x-ray, and no tb-causing bacteria can be found in the mucus from the person's lungs (sputum). the only proof that the person has a tb infection is a positive tb skin test or tb blood test (interferon-gamma release assay or igra).

people who have a latent tb infection do not spread the disease to other people. they may need to take medicine to prevent the bacteria from becoming active in the future.

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