What Is Tuberculosis?

Have you ever heard someone cough uncontrollably for weeks on end? That persistent cough could be a symptom of tuberculosis, a serious infectious disease that can have devastating consequences.

Below, we’ll review what you need to know about tuberculosis so you’ll know the activities that put you at risk and the ways you can protect yourself.

What Is Tuberculosis?

Tuberculosis, often shortened to TB, is a contagious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria.

There are a few different ways the tuberculosis disease can present. The overwhelming majority of TB infections are pulmonary. This is when the bacteria infect your body through the respiratory system and breed in the lungs.

Then, there are less common “extrapulmonary” infections, which affect parts of the body outside the lungs. There are many types, but common sites of active TB infection include the lymph nodes, kidneys, liver, cerebrospinal fluid, heart muscle, genitals, bones and joints, skin, larynx, and the walls of your blood vessels. Extrapulmonary infections can happen in conjunction with pulmonary tuberculosis or separately.

TB infections can also become latent for months or years. This happens when the immune system walls off the bacteria but doesn’t eliminate them entirely. People with latent infections don’t have symptoms, and they’re not contagious. However, the immune system can lose control over a latent infection anytime, allowing bacteria to multiply and spread to others.  

Symptoms of Tuberculosis

Symptoms of an active tuberculosis infection will vary based on which body parts are infected.

The first stage of TB is your primary infection. Most people are asymptomatic during the primary infection, but some people develop flu-like symptoms. A primary TB infection is usually followed by a latent period, but it might become an active infection immediately.

Children under the age of 12 typically have symptoms limited to weight loss and a persistent fever. In babies, there can also be stunted growth and neurological symptoms resulting from a swelling of the fluid around the brain and spinal cord.

Adults with an active pulmonary TB infection will have symptoms that can include:

• A cough lasting longer than 3 weeks
• Chest pain
• Coughing up blood
• Fatigue
• Night sweats
• Chills
• Fever
• Loss of appetite
• Weight loss

Extrapulmonary infections can lead to other symptoms based on the part of the body infected. For example, a kidney infection may produce blood in the urine, while a skeletal infection may produce back pain.

Even once a TB infection is cleared, there can be lasting complications like joint damage, lung damage, liver or kidney problems, pericardial inflammation, or damage to previously infected tissues.

Causes of Tuberculosis

The sole cause of all tuberculosis disease is infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria. However, certain factors can put you at greater risk of contracting the disease.

You’re more likely to be exposed to someone with an active TB infection if you:

• Spend time with someone who has active TB
• Live or travel to areas where TB is common (Russia, Africa, Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America or the Caribbean)
• Have contact with people who are unhoused, HIV positive, inject drugs, are in jail or prison
• Work in a hospital, nursing home, or see patients at high risk of TB

You’re more likely to develop active TB after exposure if you:

• Are a smoker
• Are under 5, aged 15-25, or over 65
• Have HIV, AIDS, diabetes, advanced kidney disease, or head/neck cancer
• Are underweight or have poor nutrition
• Are undergoing chemotherapy
• Take immunosuppressants for an organ transplant or autoimmune disease

How to Treat Tuberculosis

Since TB is a bacterial disease, it can be cured by antibiotics. However, while most ordinary bacterial infections can be cleared by 10 to 30 days of antibiotics, tuberculosis infections require extended treatment.

Latent TB infections require 3 months of daily antibiotics, while active infections take 6 to 9 months to clear. Stopping treatment early can allow TB to become resistant to the drugs being used.

In fact, we’re seeing increasing numbers of tuberculosis strains that are resistant to the usual antibiotics. Drug-resistant TB requires the use of alternate or multiple medications, resulting in more severe side effects. These strains may require up to 30 months of treatment to completely wipe out the infection.

Preventing the Spread of Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis primarily spreads through respiratory droplets from an individual with an active pulmonary infection when they cough, sneeze, or vocalize. If someone has a tuberculosis infection that doesn’t include their lungs, it’s usually not contagious.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria can’t survive long on surfaces outside the human body, so the transmission has to be direct and face-to-face.

If someone close to you develops TB, if you spend time around populations at risk for TB, or if you travel to an area where TB thrives, you need to take measures to protect yourself from becoming infected. That includes:

• Avoiding close contact with people who have or may have an active TB infection.
• Wearing a surgical or N95 mask when you can’t avoid close contact, or you’re in crowded places.
• Wash your hands regularly and avoid touching any part of your face.

Since most healthy adults are asymptomatic during the primary infection and go into a latent period, you could have a TB infection and not know it for months. That’s why it’s important to get tested for TB after potential exposure. Treating an infection before you’re symptomatic minimizes the likelihood of passing it to others.

If you do end up with an active TB infection, you have a serious responsibility to avoid spreading it to others during the first 2 to 3 weeks while you’re contagious. You can do this by:

• Limiting contact with others. This includes staying home, isolating from members of your household, and sleeping alone while you have an active infection.
• Covering your mouth when you sneeze and cough.
• Wearing a surgical or N95 mask when you can’t avoid being around other people.
• Keeping the spaces you occupy well-ventilated.

It’s also important that you take your antibiotics diligently and continue until a doctor tells you it’s okay to stop. If you skip too many doses, a latent infection can become contagious again. If you discontinue your medication early, some bacteria will remain in your system, and you could have another flare-up that makes you contagious later. Worse, you’ll be at risk of passing on drug-resistant tuberculosis instead.

Benefits of Tuberculosis Prevention Training

Another way to prevent the spread of TB is to educate people who are at risk of contracting it. That’s why the CDC says healthcare workers need annual training on TB risk and prevention. This helps you stay fresh on CDC infection control guidelines and ways to protect yourself.

Online TB courses like ours make meeting these requirements easy and convenient. Courses are self-paced and can be taken from anywhere with an internet connection. This helps you make mandatory training work around your schedule, not the other way around.

Enroll today!