Disease Spotlight: Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by bacteria that are spread from
person to person through the air. TB usually affects the lungs, but it can also
affect other parts of the body, including the brain, kidneys and spine. TB is fatal if
not treated.
Signs and symptoms of Tuberculosis include weakness or fatigue, loss of
appetite, chills, fever, night sweats and weight loss. More severe symptoms are
coughing (including coughing up blood), and chest pain. The disease can be
spread when an individual with TB infection coughs, sneezes, speaks or sings.
Germs can stay viable in the air for several hours, causing a potentially large
number of individuals breathing in the air to be infected.
There are two different types of TB infection: latent and active. Individuals
with latent infection are not sick because the TB germs are not currently active.
These people do not have symptoms of tuberculosis disease, and cannot spread
the germs to other people. In the future, they could develop active TB and pass
the disease onto others. Often times, a six to12 month treatment is administered
to prevent those with latent TB infection from developing the disease.
Those who have active Tuberculosis infection are those showing
symptoms and are contagious. They are prescribed drugs that can help cure the
TB. Because a person with active TB disease has a large amount of TB bacteria
in the body, several drugs may be used to treat the active infection.
If you think you have been exposed to TB, it is a good idea to go to your
doctor for testing. A skin test will be administered. If this test comes back positive
for TB, a chest x-ray and a sputum test will be administered. A positive TB test
means you have been infected with TB bacteria. Individuals in the high-risk
category for infection include:
Those that have recently spent time with a person who has active
TB disease, or
Someone from an area of the world where active TB disease is
very common (most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean,
Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Russia); or
Those who have spent time where TB disease is common
(homeless shelters, migrant farm camps, drug-treatment centers,
health care clinics, jails or prisons).