Turberculosis

Jan 17, 2002 10:52 AM

PORTRAIT OF A DISEASE

Q: WHAT IS TUBERCULOSIS?

A: Tuberculosis is a serious infectious disease that usually damages the lungs. It is caused by bacteria (germs) and can be spread from one person to another. Usually TB can be cured with medication, but if it is not treated, TB can cause death.

Q: HOW IS TB SPREAD?

A: People who have active TB germs in their lungs or throat can spread the germs to others. Whenever they cough, sneeze or even talk, germs are released into the air. Anyone who breathes these germs into their lungs can become infected.

Most people who develop TB were repeatedly exposed to TB germs over many months by someone in their family or a close friend. TB is not as easy to catch as measles or the flu, which can be spread by one brief contact.

Although adults with active TB can spread it to others, young children with active TB are seldom contagious.

Q: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HAVING ACTIVE TB DISEASE AND BEING INFECTED WITH TB?

A: Being infected with TB means the germs are in your body but your immune system is able to fight them; you are not sick or contagious. Having active TB disease means the germs are multiplying, causing damage to your body and making you contagious to others.

Q: DOES EVERYONE INFECTED WITH TB GERMS DEVELOP ACTIVE TB DISEASE?

A: No. Only one of every 10 people infected with TB germs develops active TB disease at some point in his or her life. This is because a healthy person's body has a defense system that is powerful enough to control the germs by building walls around them to seal them, just as a scab forms over a cut. The germs are still alive within those walls, but they are inactive. They can't do any damage and they can't spread to other people.

Q: WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE WHO DO DEVELOP ACTIVE TB DISEASE? HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE FOR THEM TO GET SICK AFTER EXPOSURE?

A: Sometimes a person infected with TB gets the disease shortly after the germs enter the body. This usually happens when the body's defenses are weak. People infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, are particularly at risk.

Other infected people may carry inactive germs in their bodies for many years without getting sick. However, the germs could become active if the body's defense system is weakened by aging, drug and alcohol abuse or serious illness including infection with the HIV virus.

People who are infected with TB but don't have the active disease often are treated with medication to prevent them from becoming sick later in their lives.