Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infection that commonly affects your lungs but may also affect other areas of your body like your spine, brain or kidneys. It is a serious disease that may cause a person to become very sick if it is not treated properly.
Not everyone who is infected with TB gets sick. They may have inactive tuberculosis or latent TB if they are exposed to the TB bacteria but exhibit no symptoms. Some people may have latent TB throughout their lifetime, without ever developing into active TB. However if your immune system becomes weakened, you may develop active TB.
Tuberculosis is caused by the mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria. TB can spread from person to person when a person with active TB sneezes, coughs, talks, sings or laughs. It spreads through water droplets in the air. Only people with an active lung infection are contagious and you will have to spend significant time with someone who is contagious to catch TB. If not treated early, infection with TB can cause permanent lung damage and can spread to other parts of the body, intestine, brain and the central nervous system.
If you have latent TB, you wont exhibit symptoms but you may have a positive TB test. Symptoms of active TB include:
Seek emergency medical attention if you are experiencing chest pains, severe headache, confusion, seizures and difficulty breathing.
You may be at risk of getting active TB if you:
You can reduce your risk of catching TB by:
If you are diagnosed with TB, avoid going to crowded places and always cough or sneeze into a tissue before throwing it into a rubbish bin. Also ensure that any household surfaces that come into contact with you are cleaned with disinfectant.
Imaging Tests
Your doctor may perform a X-ray which can show where TB has damaged your lungs
Sputum Test
Samples of your phlegm will be tested to check for the presence of TB germs.
