PrimeStaff Health offers tuberculosis (TB) testing in the form of PPD (purified protein derivative). If a person has antibodies to the mycobacterium that causes tuberculosis they will react to the PPD injection.
Antibodies will be present when a person has TB, has been exposed to (but not infected by) TB, or has received the Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine. Anyone who was born in a country that uses the BCG vaccine should avoid getting a PPD test as they will typically test positive. They can get a chest x-ray to look for active signs of TB instead of the PPD.
BCG is the only vaccine licensed against tuberculosis. South American countries that commonly give BCG vaccine include Brazil, Mexico and most countries in Central & South America. In Europe BCG is still given in: Bosnia, Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, North Macedonia, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine.
Asian countries using BCG include: China (and Hong Kong), India, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Thailand.
Iran still gives BCG in the Middle East. African nations include: South Africa, Morocco, and Kenya.
This may not be a complete list and it only includes countries still using BCG. You may have still received BCG from other countries that have now stopped using it. For example, Ireland stopped using BCG less than 10 years ago in 2015. Wikipedia has a list of countries that have used BCG in the past and have now stopped requiring it.
Schedule Testing