It is important to note that a person with TB infection, but not disease, cannot spread the infection to others, since there are no TB bacteria in the sputum. Other tests are needed to determine if someone is only infected or has progressed to TB disease.
A chest x-ray or CT scan and a sample of sputum are needed to determine if a person has TB disease. Regimens, dosage and duration will be determined by a medical provider. TB disease generally is treated with a combination of several medications 6 to 12 months. It is important that people who have TB disease finish the medicine and take the drugs exactly as prescribed by their doctor. If they stop taking the drugs too soon they can become sick again.
If they do not take the drugs correctly, the bacteria that are still alive may become resistant to those drugs. TB that is resistant to drugs is harder and more expensive to treat. If you have TB infection, you have a 10 percent chance of developing active disease over the course of your lifetime if you remain untreated. The chance of developing TB disease increases if you develop diabetes, are immunocompromised, have HIV, have a gastric by-pass or require prolonged use of corticosteroids or other immunosuppressive agents.
If you have TB disease, in addition to spreading the disease to others, an untreated person may become severely ill or die. People who have been treated for TB infection or TB disease are able to become infected again. Should children or others be excluded from child care, school, work or other activities if they have tuberculosis? People diagnosed with TB disease should isolated from the public until they have been determined by a doctor to no longer be infectious.
This can occur within a few weeks of initiating therapy, however, infectious periods may vary. People with TB infection who have been cleared of a TB disease diagnosis can participate in all activities whether they are receiving treatment or not. As always, respiratory etiquette is recommended. People with TB disease should be excluded from school, day care or the work place until the sputum is negative about weeks after the beginning of treatment.
All household and close contacts of a person with active TB disease should be screened using the TB skin test or TB blood test for evidence of infection. There are multiple pills that need to be taken every single day — at the same time each day, without fail — or the treatment might not work.
You may start to feel better and think that your tuberculosis has been successfully treated, only to find out that it's back — stronger and more difficult to treat. Or you may have done everything right and the disease is gone, only to find that you are infected with tuberculosis again.
There is much debate over whether recurrent tuberculosis is caused by a relapse — getting sick again with the same strain of tuberculosis even after treatment — or tuberculosis reinfection with a new strain of the bacteria.
In the United States and Canada, it seems that most recurrent tuberculosis cases are a relapse of the original infection, perhaps because of insufficient treatment, and not because of tuberculosis reinfection with a new strain of bacteria. The situation is different in other parts of the world.
In a study done in Cape Town, South Africa, where tuberculosis is very common, 18 percent of the study participants had tuberculosis reinfection. Fourteen percent of those patients had been successfully treated for their illness and were infected again with a different strain of TB. Many people may have what's called latent tuberculosis infection , meaning that they have no tuberculosis symptoms , but the bacteria are still in their body. Once the bacteria become active and cause tuberculosis symptoms, the infection becomes active TB.
Based on the Cape Town study results, researchers did not find any risk factors that made people who had been reinfected with tuberculosis more likely to get sick again.
People who have had tuberculosis before and get it again are at a much higher risk of developing tuberculosis disease than someone who has never had the illness. More research needs to be done, but scientists suspect that some people may be more susceptible to tuberculosis than others for reasons that are not yet known.
In a person who has a healthy immune system, the body usually fights the infection by walling off encapsulating the bacteria into tiny capsules called tubercles. The bacteria remain alive but cannot spread to surrounding tissues or other people. This stage is called latent TB, and most people never go beyond it.
A reaction to a tuberculin skin test is how most people find out they have latent TB. It takes about 48 hours after the test for a reaction to develop, which is usually a red bump where the needle went into the skin. Or you could have a rapid blood test that provides results in about 24 hours. If a person's immune system becomes unable to prevent the bacteria from growing, the TB becomes active. Active TB in the lungs pulmonary TB is contagious.
TB spreads when a person who has active disease exhales air that contains TB-causing bacteria and another person inhales the bacteria from the air.
These bacteria can remain floating in the air for several hours. Coughing, sneezing, laughing, or singing releases more bacteria than breathing. In general, after 2 weeks of treatment with antibiotics, you cannot spread active pulmonary TB to other people. Skipping doses of medicine can delay a cure and cause a relapse. In these cases, you may need to start treatment over. Relapses usually occur within 6 to 12 months after treatment. Not taking the full course of treatment also allows antibiotic-resistant strains of the bacteria to develop, making treatment more difficult.
Without treatment, active TB can cause serious complications, such as:. Active TB in parts of the body other than the lungs extrapulmonary TB is not spread easily to other people. You take the same medicines that are used to treat pulmonary TB. You may need other treatments depending on where in your body the infection is growing and how severe it is.
People are at increased risk of infection with tuberculosis TB when they:. People who have an infection that cannot spread to others latent TB infection are at risk of developing active TB if they:. Call your doctor immediately if you have:.
Your family doctor or general practitioner can help you find out if you have tuberculosis TB. For treatment of active TB, which can be spread to others, or to treat complications of TB, you may be referred to:. Doctors diagnose active tuberculosis TB in the lungs pulmonary TB by using a medical history and physical examination, and by checking your symptoms such as an ongoing cough, fatigue, fever, or night sweats.
Doctors will also look at the results of a:. Diagnosing TB in other parts of the body extrapulmonary TB requires more testing.
Tests include:. You may also have a blood test for hepatitis. During treatment, a sputum culture is done once a month—or more often—to make sure that the antibiotics are working. You may have a chest X-ray at the end of treatment to use as a comparison in the future. You may have tests to see if TB medicines are harming other parts of your body. These tests may include:.
Public health officials encourage screening for people who are at risk for getting TB. Doctors treat tuberculosis TB with antibiotics to kill the TB bacteria. These medicines are given to everyone who has TB, including infants, children, pregnant women, and people who have a weakened immune system.
Health experts recommend: footnote 7 footnote 4. Treatment is recommended for anyone with a skin test that shows a TB infection, and is especially important for people who:.
Treatment for tuberculosis in parts of the body other than the lungs extrapulmonary TB usually is the same as for pulmonary TB. You may need other medicines or forms of treatment depending on where the infection is in the body and whether complications develop.
You may need treatment in a hospital if you have:. If treatment is not successful, the TB infection can flare up again relapse. People who have relapses usually have them within 6 to 12 months after treatment. Treatment for relapse is based on the severity of the disease and which medicines were used during the first treatment.
Active tuberculosis TB is very contagious. But this vaccination is almost never used in North America because:. Home treatment for tuberculosis TB focuses on taking the medicines correctly to reduce the risk of developing multidrug-resistant TB.
During treatment for TB, eat healthy foods and get enough sleep and some exercise to help your body fight the infection. If you are losing too much weight, eat balanced meals with enough protein and calories to help you keep weight on.
If you need help, ask to talk with a registered dietitian. Because TB treatment takes so long, it is normal to:. Your doctor or health department can help you find a counsellor or social worker to help you cope with your feelings. Several antibiotics are used at the same time to treat active tuberculosis TB disease. For people who have multidrug-resistant TB, treatment may continue for as long as 24 months.
These antibiotics are given as pills or injections. TB disease that occurs in parts of your body other than the lungs extrapulmonary TB usually is treated with the same medicines and for the same length of time as active TB in the lungs pulmonary TB.
But TB throughout the body miliary TB or TB that affects the brain or the bones and joints in children may be treated for at least 12 months. Corticosteroid medicines also may be given in some severe cases to reduce inflammation. They may be helpful for children at risk of central nervous system problems caused by TB and for people who have conditions such as high fever, TB throughout the body miliary TB , pericarditis , or peritonitis. One antibiotic usually is used to treat latent TB infection, which cannot be spread to others but can develop into active TB disease.
For this treatment, a health professional may watch you take each dose of antibiotics. Taking every dose of antibiotic helps prevent the TB bacteria from getting resistant to the antibiotics.
Multiple-drug therapy to treat TB usually involves taking four antibiotics at the same time. This is the standard treatment for active TB. If you miss doses of medicine or you stop treatment too soon, your treatment may go on longer or you may have to start over. This can also cause the infection to get worse, or it may lead to antibiotic-resistant infections that are much harder to treat.
Taking all of the medicines is especially important for people who have an impaired immune system. They may be at an increased risk for a relapse because the original TB infection was never cured. Surgery is rarely used to treat tuberculosis TB. But it may be used to treat extensively drug-resistant TB XDR-TB or to treat complications of an infection in the lungs or another part of the body.
Surgery has a high success rate, but it also has a risk of complications, which may include infections other than TB and shortness of breath after surgery.
Surgery sometimes may be needed to remove or repair organs damaged by TB in parts of the body other than the lungs extrapulmonary TB or to prevent other rare complications, such as:. Current as of: September 23, Author: Healthwise Staff. Medical Review: E. This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Learn how we develop our content. To learn more about Healthwise, visit Healthwise. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated. Top of the page. Topic Overview What is tuberculosis? Tuberculosis is either latent or active. Latent TB means that you have the TB bacteria in your body, but your body's defences immune system are keeping it from turning into active TB.
This means that you don't have any symptoms of TB right now and can't spread the disease to others. If you have latent TB, it can become active TB. Active TB means that the TB bacteria are growing and causing symptoms. If your lungs are infected with active TB, it is easy to spread the disease to others. How is TB spread to others? Who is most at risk for TB?
This includes people who: Have HIV or another illness that weakens the immune system. Have close contact with someone who has active TB, such as living in the same house as someone who is infected with TB. Care for a patient who has active TB, such as doctors or nurses. Live or work in crowded places, such as prisons, nursing homes, or homeless shelters, where other people may have active TB. Have poor access to health care, such as homeless people and migrant farm workers.
Misuse of drugs or alcohol. What are the symptoms? Symptoms of active TB may include: A cough that brings up thick, cloudy, and sometimes bloody mucus from the lungs called sputum for more than 2 weeks.
Tiredness and weight loss. Night sweats and a fever. A rapid heartbeat. Swelling in the neck when lymph nodes in the neck are infected. Shortness of breath and chest pain in rare cases. How is TB diagnosed? How is it treated? Cause Tuberculosis TB is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis , slow-growing bacteria that thrive in areas of the body that are rich in blood and oxygen, such as the lungs. Symptoms If you have latent tuberculosis TB , you do not have symptoms and cannot spread the disease to others.
Symptoms of active TB in the lungs Symptoms of active TB in the lungs begin gradually and develop over a period of weeks or months. Common symptoms include: A cough with thick, cloudy, and sometimes bloody mucus from the lungs sputum for more than 2 weeks. Fever, chills, and night sweats. Fatigue and weakness. Loss of appetite and unexplained weight loss. Shortness of breath and chest pain. Symptoms of active TB outside the lungs Symptoms of TB outside the lungs extrapulmonary TB vary widely depending on which area of the body is infected.
What Happens Tuberculosis TB develops when Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria are inhaled into the lungs.
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