Definition of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is a potentially serious infectious disease that mainly affects your lungs. The bacteria that cause tuberculosis are spread from one person to another through tiny droplets released into the air via coughs and sneezes.
Signs and symptoms of tuberculosis
Signs and symptoms of active TB include:
- Coughing that lasts three or more weeks
- Coughing up blood
- Chest pain, or pain with breathing or coughing
- Unintentional weight loss
- Fatigue
- Fever
- Night sweats
- Chills
- Loss of appetite
Tuberculosis can also affect other parts of your body, including your kidneys, spine or brain. When TB occurs outside your lungs, signs and symptoms vary according to the organs involved. For example, tuberculosis of the spine may give you back pain, and tuberculosis in your kidneys might cause blood in your urine.
Causes of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis is caused by bacteria that spread from person to person through microscopic droplets released into the air. This can happen when someone with the untreated, active form of tuberculosis coughs, speaks, sneezes, spits, laughs or sings.
Although tuberculosis is contagious, it is not easy to catch. Someone is much more likely to get tuberculosis from someone you live with or work with than from a stranger. Most people with active TB who have had appropriate drug treatment for at least two weeks are no longer contagious.
Risk factors of tuberculosis
Anyone can get tuberculosis, but certain factors can increase your risk of the disease. These factors include:
Weakened immune system
A healthy immune system often successfully fights TB bacteria, but your body cannot mount an effective defense if your resistance is low. A number of diseases and medications can weaken your immune system, including:
- HIV/AIDS
- Diabetes
- End-stage kidney disease
- Certain cancers
- Cancer treatment, such as chemotherapy
- Drugs to prevent rejection of transplanted organs
- Some drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease and psoriasis
- Malnutrition
- Very young or advanced age
Traveling or living in certain areas
The risk of contracting tuberculosis is higher for people who live in or travel to countries that have high rates of tuberculosis and drug-resistant tuberculosis, such as:
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- India
- China
- Russia
- Pakistan
Poverty and substance abuse
- Lack of medical care: If you receive a low or fixed income, live in a remote area, have recently immigrated to the United States, or are homeless, you may lack access to the medical care needed to diagnose and treat TB.
- Substance abuse: Drug use or alcohol abuse weakens your immune system and makes you more vulnerable to tuberculosis.
- Tobacco use: Using tobacco greatly increases the risk of getting TB and dying of it.
Where you work or live
- Health care work: Regular contact with people who are ill increases your chances of exposure to TB bacteria. Wearing a mask and frequent hand-washing greatly reduce your risk.
- Living or working in a residential care facility: People who live or work in prisons, immigration centers or nursing homes are all at a higher risk of tuberculosis. That is because the risk of the disease is higher anywhere there is overcrowding and poor ventilation.
- Living in a refugee camp or shelter. Weakened by poor nutrition and ill health and living in crowded, unsanitary conditions, refugees are at especially high risk of tuberculosis infection.
Complications of tuberculosis
Without treatment, tuberculosis can be fatal. Untreated active disease typically affects your lungs, but it can spread to other parts of the body through your bloodstream. Examples of tuberculosis complications include:
- Spinal pain: Back pain and stiffness are common complications of tuberculosis.
- Joint damage: Tuberculous arthritis usually affects the hips and knees.
- Swelling of the membranes that cover your brain (meningitis): This can cause a lasting or intermittent headache that occurs for weeks. Mental changes also are possible.
- Liver or kidney problems: Your liver and kidneys help filter waste and impurities from your bloodstream. These functions become impaired if the liver or kidneys are affected by tuberculosis.
- Heart disorders: Rarely, tuberculosis can infect the tissues that surround your heart, causing inflammation and fluid collections that may interfere with your heart’s ability to pump effectively. This condition, called cardiac tamponade, can be fatal.
Treatment of tuberculosis
With tuberculosis, you must take antibiotics for at least six to nine months. The exact drugs and length of treatment depend on your age, overall health, possible drug resistance, the form of TB (latent or active) and the infection’s location in the body. The most common medications used to treat tuberculosis include:
- Isoniazid
- Rifampin (Rifadin, Rimactane)
- Ethambutol (Myambutol)
- Pyrazinamide
Prevention of tuberculosis
Vaccinations
In countries where tuberculosis is more common, infants often are vaccinated with bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine because it can prevent severe tuberculosis in children. Dozens of new TB vaccines are in various stages of development and testing.
When there an outbreak of tuberculosis is a given area, the following are some of the ways to prevent it spread:
- Stay home: Do not go to work or school or sleep in a room with other people during the first few weeks of treatment for active tuberculosis.
- Ventilate the room: Tuberculosis germs spread more easily in small closed spaces where air does not move. If it is not too cold outdoors, open the windows and use a fan to blow indoor air outside.
- Cover your mouth: Use a tissue to cover your mouth anytime you laugh, sneeze or cough. Put the dirty tissue in a bag, seal it and throw it away.
- Wear a mask: Wearing a surgical mask when you are around other people during the first three weeks of treatment may help lessen the risk of transmission.
