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Tuberculosis (TB) Is An

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria that generally affects the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections are latent and asymptomatic, but about 10% of latent infections progress to active disease which can be fatal if left untreated. TB spreads through the air when people with active lung TB cough, spit, speak, or sneeze. Diagnosis involves chest x-rays, microscopic exams, and culture tests while prevention relies on screening high-risk groups and vaccination. Treatment requires multiple antibiotics over a long period.

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35 views1 page

Tuberculosis (TB) Is An

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria that generally affects the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections are latent and asymptomatic, but about 10% of latent infections progress to active disease which can be fatal if left untreated. TB spreads through the air when people with active lung TB cough, spit, speak, or sneeze. Diagnosis involves chest x-rays, microscopic exams, and culture tests while prevention relies on screening high-risk groups and vaccination. Treatment requires multiple antibiotics over a long period.

Uploaded by

rascal raccoon
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by Mycobacterium

tuberculosis (MTB) bacteria.[1] Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but can also affect
other parts of the body.[1] Most infections do not have symptoms, in which case it is known
as latent tuberculosis.[1] About 10% of latent infections progress to active disease which, if
left untreated, kills about half of those infected.[1] The classic symptoms of active TB are a
chronic cough with blood-containing sputum, fever, night sweats, and weight loss.[1] It was
historically called "consumption" due to the weight loss.[5] Infection of other organs can
cause a wide range of symptoms.[6]
Tuberculosis is spread through the air when people who have active TB in their
lungs cough, spit, speak, or sneeze.[1][7] People with latent TB do not spread the
disease.[1] Active infection occurs more often in people with HIV/AIDS and in those
who smoke.[1] Diagnosis of active TB is based on chest X-rays, as well
as microscopic examination and culture of body fluids.[8]Diagnosis of latent TB relies on
the tuberculin skin test (TST) or blood tests.[8]
Prevention of TB involves screening those at high risk, early detection and treatment of
cases, and vaccination with the bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine.[9][10][11] Those at
high risk include household, workplace, and social contacts of people with active
TB.[11] Treatment requires the use of multiple antibiotics over a long period of
time.[1] Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem with increasing rates of multiple drug-
resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB).[1]
Presently, one-quarter of the world's population is thought to be infected with TB.[3] New
infections occur in about 1% of the population each year.[12] In 2016, there were more than
10 million cases of active TB which resulted in 1.3 million deaths.[4] This makes it the
number one cause of death from an infectious disease.[4] More than 95% of deaths
occurred in developing countries, and more than 50% in India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan,
and the Philippines.[4] The number of new cases each year has decreased since
2000.[1] About 80% of people in many Asian and African countries test positive while 5–10%
of people in the United States population test positive by the tuberculin test.[13] Tuberculosis
has been present in humans since ancient times.[14]

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