Does Tuberculosis spread?

Question

If someone's got TB, can others get affected by it?

Answer 1

Absolutely. TB is an airborne disease, which means if an infected person coughs, sneezes, laughs, etc. and you breathe it in, you have the potential to become infected. However, it is easier to get it in public places, like Wal-Mart, than in a hospital. In the hospital, these people are kept isolated and precautions are taken to keep it from being spread, such as the patient being in a negative pressure room. You know these people have an infectious disease, so you are able to protect yourself. But in public, most of the time you don't even know the person is sick so you don't take precautions to protect yourself. The person is contagious until they have taken their course of medication and the bacilli has been encapsulated in a granuloma. They are NEVER cured. The bacilli remains in the granuloma until their immune system becomes compromised due to an illness (like AIDS or cancer), then it will break out of the granuloma and the person will once again be contagious.

Answer 2

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacterium. The disease typically attacks the lungs of the infected person, but it may attack other parts of the body as well. Considered one of the most deadly diseases of our time, TB affects an estimated two billion people around the world.

Tuberculosis is spread from person to person through droplets in the air. When an infected person coughs, sneezes, speaks, or spits, droplets containing the tuberculosis bacteria are expelled. If another person inhales even a small number of these droplets, he or she may be infected.

Though tuberculosis is contagious, the disease is not very easy to catch. Usually, transmission of the disease requires repeated contact. In most cases, a person has to be close to an infected individual for quite some time in order to become infected with TB. For this reason, the disease is most easily spread among friends, family members, and roommates. Furthermore, a person is at increased risk of infection when in close quarters with an infected individual.

An individual can be infected with tuberculosis, yet may not have the disease. In fact, most people do not actually develop TB, thanks to the protection of their immune systems. A great number of TB disease cases are actually the result of the reactivation of old, dormant infections.

Symptoms of tuberculosis disease include a lingering cough, fatigue, weight loss, poor appetite, night sweats, fever, and bloody cough. Individuals merely infected with tuberculosis usually do not exhibit symptoms. On the other hand, individuals with the disease may present with all the symptoms, just a few, or none at all.

Answer 3

Yes. Therre are 2 kinds of TB - open TB is very infectious under the right conditons and closed TB is not so infectious.

Answer 4

Yes, TB is highly contagious. It is spread when the person who has it coughs and the the droplets are inhaled by someone else.

Answer 5

Yes. TB is highly contagious. Anyone who has it or even has a positive TB test should be on antibiotics.

Answer 6

It is an infectious disease but not highly contagious. Health care workers rarely develop stage II TB.

Answer 7

Lots of people constantly exposed to each other and the elements in one place. Disease is bound to spread. TB is hard to contain, symptoms are slow, and people don't get tested often enough. And "could" does not mean it is.

Answer 8

Of course. It is spread just by breathing the same air.

Here's info from the American Lung Association:
http://www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=dvLUK9O0E&b=35778

Answer 9

yes it is spread through air, always cover your cough and remember today they have MEDS IF TAKING PROPERLY WILL DO AWAY WITH TB

Answer 10

YES... it is very contagious.

And it is spreading in the more populated states having illegals, FL, TX, AZ, CA, NY