What is tuberculosis?
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infection caused by slow-growing bacteria
that grow best in areas of the body that have lots of blood and oxygen. That's
why it is most often found in the lungs. This is called pulmonary TB. But TB
can also spread to other parts of the body, which is called extrapulmonary
TB. Treatment is often a success, but it is a long process. It usually takes
about 6 to 9 months to treat TB. But some TB infections need to be treated for
up to 2 years.
Tuberculosis is either latent or active.
·
Latent
TB means that you have the TB bacteria in your body, but your
body's defenses (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?
Pulmonary TB (in the lungs) is contagious. It spreads when a
person who has active TB breathes out air that has the TB bacteria in it and
then another person breathes in the bacteria from the air. An infected person releases
even more bacteria when he or she does things like cough or laugh.
If TB is only in other parts of the body (extrapulmonary TB), it
does not spread easily to others.
Who is most
at risk for TB?
Some people are more likely than others to get 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.
How is it treated?
Most of the time, doctors combine four antibiotics to
treat active TB. It's important to take the medicine for active TB for at least
6 months. Almost all people are cured if they take their medicine just like
their doctors say to take it. If tests still show an active TB infection after
6 months, then treatment continues for another 2 or 3 months. If the TB
bacteria are resistant to several antibiotics (multidrug-resistant TB), then
treatment may be needed for a year or longer.
