Tuberculosis

What is tuberculosis?
Tuberculosis (TB), is a highly infectious disease that primarily affects the lungs. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1.5 million people died from the disease in 2020. A bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis causes TB. A variety of TB strains exist, and some of these have become resistant to medication.

How can you contract TB?

TB bacteria are transmitted through infected droplets in the air. Once these droplets enter the air, anyone nearby can inhale them. Someone with TB can transmit bacteria by: sneezing, coughing, speaking, singing. People with well-functioning immune systems may not experience TB symptoms, even if they’ve contracted the bacteria. This is known as latent or inactive TB infection.

What are the symptoms of Tuberculosis?

Active TB typically causes many symptoms. While symptoms usually relate to the respiratory system, they could affect other parts of the body, depending on where the TB bacteria grow. Symptoms caused by TB in the lungs/ respiratory system include: cough lasting more than 3 weeks, coughing up blood or sputum (phlegm), chest pain. General TB symptoms include: unexplained tiredness, weakness, fever, chills, night sweats, appetite loss.

Tb can cause bloody urine and loss of kidney function if it affects the kidney or back pain and stiffness, muscle pain if it affects the spine. Risk factors that increase your chance of contracting the bacteria that causes TB disease include:

• having diabetes, end stage kidney disease, or certain cancers
• malnutrition
• using tobacco or alcohol for long periods of time
• a diagnosis of HIV or having another immune-system-compromising situation
• crowded places of living, like slums and prisons
• living in regions with high TB rates like sub-Saharan Africa, India; Mexico and other Latin American countries; China and many other Asian countries

How is TB diagnosed and treated?

TB can be diagnosed with, skin test, Chest X-Ray, sputum tests by clinicians. People diagnosed with active TB disease generally have to take a combination of medications for 6 to 9 months. If you don’t complete the full treatment course, it’s highly likely the TB infection may come back. A returning infection can resist previous medications, so it’s often much more difficult to treat. A TB vaccine, called the bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, is mostly used in countries with a high prevalence of TB. This vaccine works better for children than for adults.

Treatment for tuberculosis can be successful, given a person takes all the medication as directed and has access to proper medical care. If someone living with TB has other diseases, treating active TB may be more difficult. HIV, for example, affects the immune system and weakens the body’s ability to fight off TB and other infections. TB can be treated and cured, but it’s always best to start treatment as soon as possible.