Jan. 4, 2024 | Tuberculosis, also known as TB, is a bacterial disease that usually attacks the lungs. But it can also attack other parts of the body, including the kidneys, spine, and brain. There are two types of the condition, latent and active. According to the American Lung Association, roughly 1.8 billion people or a quarter of the world’s population are infected with latent TB, where the germs live in your body but don’t make you sick. About 10 million people worldwide have active TB, where you get sick from germs called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The germs spread from person to person through the air. People who have TB disease in their throat or lungs spread the germs in the air when they cough, sneeze, talk, or sing. If you breathe in the air that has the germs, you can get TB. TB is not spread by touching, kissing, or sharing food or dishes. You’re more likely to catch TB from people you live or work with than from people you see for shorter amounts of time.

Jan. 4, 2024 | Tuberculosis is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It spreads person to person when an infected individual coughs or sneezes out the bacteria, spreading it through the air to be breathed in by others. It takes prolonged exposure to become infected with TB, so you would typically get sick from a close family member or co-worker, not a casual acquaintance. Once you have inhaled the bacterium, the bacterium lodges in the lung tissue. Healthy individuals may contract latent TB, but the disease may not become active until months or years later, at a time when the immune system becomes weak for some reason. However, people with weakened immune systems are at a greater risk for developing active TB right away. When they breathe in the bacterium, it settles in their lungs and starts growing because their immune systems cannot fight the infection. In these instances, TB may develop within days after the infection.

Jan. 4, 2024 | The chances of getting infected with the germs that cause tuberculosis are highest for people that come in close contact with others who are infected. This can include people from parts of the world with high TB rates, such as India or parts of Asia and Africa, or people in groups with high rates of TB transmission, including the homeless, injection drug users and people living with HIV. People who work or reside in facilities that house high risk people such as hospitals, homeless shelters, correctional facilities, nursing homes and residential homes for those with HIV are also at high risk for TB. Not everyone who is infected with the TB germ develops clinically active tuberculosis. People at the highest risk for developing active TB are those with a weak immune system, including babies and young children, organ transplant recipients and people receiving certain treatments for autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis or Crohn’s disease.

Jan. 4, 2024 | The symptoms of active tuberculosis include a cough that lasts more than three weeks, fever, chills and night sweats. If your doctor suspects TB, they may order a skin or blood test. The skin test is done by injecting a small amount of fluid called tuberculin into the skin in the arm. You will be told to return to the office within 48 to 72 hours to have a health-care worker check the arm to see if a bump or a thickening of the skin has developed. It may be difficult to feel so an experienced health-care worker should examine the reaction. The health-care worker will measure the bump or induration and tell you if your reaction to the test is positive or negative. If it’s positive, it usually means you have been infected with the TB germ. It does not tell whether you have developed clinically active TB. The skin test isn’t 100 percent accurate, meaning you may have a false-positive or a false-negative, so your doctor may order further testing regardless of the result.

Jan. 4, 2024 | The treatment for both latent and active tuberculosis is antibiotics. To make sure you get rid of all the TB germs in your body, it’s very important to follow the directions for taking your medication. If you don’t follow the directions, the TB germs in your body could change and become antibiotic resistant. That means the medicine may stop working and your tuberculosis may become hard to cure. For latent TB infections, you usually take medicines for three to nine months. Treatment helps make sure you don’t get tuberculosis in the future. For active TB, you usually need to take medicines for 6 to 12 months. Treatment will almost always cure you if you take your pills the right way. For tuberculosis in your lungs or throat, you’ll need to stay home for a few weeks, so you don’t spread disease to other people. By following medical advice for TB testing and treatment, you can keep yourself healthy and help stop the spread of tuberculosis.