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Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, [7] is a contagious disease usually caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) bacteria. [1] Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. [1]
Meanwhile, "latent" means that someone has tuberculosis but doesn’t have symptoms and can’t spread it to others, explains Thomas Russo, MD, a professor and chief of infectious disease at the ...
A large, ongoing tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas has sickened at least 67 and caused two deaths. What to know about TB symptoms, transmission, and treatment.
As such, a person diagnosed with latent TB can safely assume that, even after treatment, they will carry the bacteria – likely for the rest of their lives. Furthermore, "It has been estimated that up to one-third of the world's population is infected with M. tuberculosis, and this population is an important reservoir for disease reactivation."
Symptoms of M. tuberculosis include coughing that lasts for more than three weeks, hemoptysis, chest pain when breathing or coughing, weight loss, fatigue, fever, night sweats, chills, and loss of appetite. M. tuberculosis also has the potential of spreading to other parts of the body. This can cause blood in urine if the kidneys are affected ...
Until that point, though, patients can spread TB to others and it’s typically adults with reactivated TB that are the most infectious. As a result, patients are typically kept in negative pressure rooms and visitors are asked to wear protective N-95 masks that can’t filter out oil aerosols (N for “not resistant to oil”) but can filter ...
Tuberculosis vaccines are only recommended under select circumstances in the U.S. But vaccines against polio and measles are part of routine childhood vaccinations, Petri says.
Tuberculosis can also spread through the blood from the primary focus to elsewhere in the abdomen. Abdominal solid organs, kidneys, lymph nodes and peritoneum can be affected this way. [ 2 ] Tuberculosis is also reported to spread to the peritoneum directly from adjacently situated infected foci, such as from the fallopian tubes, adnexa, psoas ...