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    Saturday, 28 March 2015

    Tuberculosis: What you should know

    Tuberculosis or TB for short is an infectious disease that spreads through the air. It is an infection that is caused by certain bacterium called mycobacterium tuberculosis. TB usually affects the lungs however it can affect other parts of the body.

    It is spread when someone who has active tuberculosis coughs, sneezes or spits. The bacterium is then inhaled by another person.

    Many people have latent TB. They have the TB germ but their immune system protects them from its spread. Latent TB is not infectious. There is a 10 percent risk of developing active TB if you have latent TB.

    How is it spread?

    The bacteria are spread from person to person through small droplets in the air. The droplets are usually released when someone who has TB disease coughs or sneezes. Other people breathe these droplets into their lungs, causing an infection. You can be infected with TB, but not have the disease. If you only have the infection, it is called latent TB infection. Only a few people who are infected (about five to 10 in 100) actually get symptoms. When you have symptoms, it is called active TB disease.

    Symptoms

    Cough, fever, night sweats, weight and appetite loss, tiredness, weakness, chest pain and coughing up blood are common symptoms. If you are infected, but do not have the disease, you won’t have any symptoms. If you have the disease, you may have coughing that lasts longer than two to three weeks, fever, night sweats, or weight loss. You may cough up blood. Without treatment, death can occur from the disease.

    Who gets it?

    If your immune system is not strong enough, you can develop active TB. People in close contact with TB patients, who have reduced immunity, people who live or work where there are many people, like jails, nursing homes, or homeless shelters, health care workers with high-risk patients and infants or children who are around adults that are at high risk are likely to get the disease.

    People who are HIV positive, diabetic, malnourished or smokers have a higher chance of developing TB. Some people who have TB infection are more likely to get the disease. People who have had TB infection for two years or less, children younger than four years and people with a weak immune system (e.g., those with diabetes or cancer)
    Can it be treated?tubaculosis-tb2

    Yes, there are medicines that treat TB. Talk to your doctor about what medicines are available. Your doctor can also tell you about the benefits and length of treatment, possible side effects of the medicine, and the cost of treatment.

    Prevention/protection

    If you have TB infection, but not the disease, you can’t spread it to other people. But, your doctor will still treat you so that you don’t get TB disease. If you have TB disease, you should wear a mask over your nose and mouth to help protect other people from getting the disease. Your doctors and nurses may also wear masks. Once you start taking medicine, it should take time before you can’t spread the disease. Your doctor will let you know when it is safe for you to take off your mask around others.
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