What Is Tuberculosis?

Tuberculosis (Mycobacterium Tuberculosis) is a bacterial disease. It mostly affects the lungs and throat, but can occur all over the body. Depending on what type of TB you have, you may not feel sick and won't have any symptoms. Not only is it preventable, but it is usually curable if you are diagnosed with it.

Latent TB

With latent TB, the bacteria in the body will be fought back by the immune system, and the bacteria will become inactive in the body. There are no symptoms and you don't feel sick. It cannot spread to other people around you. Usually, if you take a skin test, you would get a positive reaction for TB. If you don't get latent TB treated, you may get active TB if your immune system is stressed.

Active TB

The way to get active TB is if you didn't get latent TB treated or your immune system is too weak to fight it off. Some of the many diseases that cause immunity suppression are:

HIV/ AIDS

Cancer

Diabetes Mellitus

Leukemia

Severe Kidney Disease

Not only will an active TB infection destroy tissue, but it may create a hole in your lungs. There are some very uncomfortable symptoms and you can spread it to others, especially family, friends and coworkers.

Multi-drug resistant Tuberculosis

Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is when two or more of the drugs do not help during the treatment. In 2005, there were one hundred, twenty-four reported cases of MDR-TB. In 1993, twenty-six percent of cases were MDR-TB while in 2005, eighty-one percent of TB cases are MDR-TB.

Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis

Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) is when little or none of the known drugs for TB help cure a person. In May, 2007, two people had reported cases of XDR-TB in Italy. None of the known drugs had helped when they were treated. Another thirty-seven countries had reported XDR-TB, including Poland, Slovenia, and many countries in Africa.