Latent TB infection:
– A person infected with latent TB shows no sign of symptoms and may not feel sick.
– A skin or blood test will indicate if a person has been infected with the bacteria.
– It is not possible to spread the TB bacteria from the infected person to others.
– Individuals with a latent TB infection may never develop the disease, as bacteria remains dormant. In other cases, especially involving people with a weak immune system, the bacteria may become active and cause TB disease.
– Treatment is required to ensure the infected person does not develop active TB disease but in some cases preventative treatment may not be an option.
– Without treatment, about 5-10% of individuals infected with latent TB will develop the disease.
– Symptoms of TB of the lungs include coughing up blood and chest pain.
– Other symptoms include weight loss, night sweats, fever, chills and fatigue.
– It is possible to spread the TB bacteria from the infected person to others.
– A skin or blood test will indicate if a person has been infected with the bacteria.
– Treatment typically involves a combination of drugs taken for six months.
– Persons with a weak immune system, such as those with HIV or diabetes, are more prone to catching the TB disease.
– TB is one of the leading causes of death for people infected with HIV worldwide.
Facts
TB spreads through the air when a person with an active TB infection coughs, sneezes, speaks or sings. Germs can stay in the air for hours.
Timeline
1865 – French military doctor Jean-Antoine Villemin proves the illness can transmit from human to animal or from animal to animal.
1882 – German doctor Robert Koch identifies the bacterial strain as Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
1800s – Tuberculosis causes as much as one-quarter of all deaths in Europe during the 19th century. Famous people who die from tuberculosis include John Keats, Frédéric Chopin, Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte, Anton Chekhov and Franz Kafka.
1930 – In Germany, more than 70 infants who received the BCG vaccine die of TB. It is later concluded that the vaccine was contaminated in the lab.
1944 – Physicians H. Corwin Hinshaw, Karl H. Pfuetze and William H. Feldman successfully use streptomycin to treat a patient with TB.
May 26, 2011 – Nearly 700 patients and 100 employees are exposed to tuberculosis at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta after interacting with a hospital employee carrying the disease.
2021 – A study concludes that a four-month multidrug regimen to treat TB is as effective as a six-month regimen.