When is tb contagious

Largely thought of as a disease of the past, tuberculosis still…. Pulmonary tuberculosis TB is a contagious, infectious disease that attacks your lungs. People with the germ have a 10 percent lifetime risk of….

The disease grows easily and is highly contagious, but new diagnostic tests may help global health officials in their quest to eliminate tuberculosis…. Tuberculosis TB is a serious infection. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Mental Health. Medically reviewed by Daniel Murrell, M.

How is it spread? How to reduce your risk for TB. What are the symptoms of TB? What treatments are available? The takeaway. Read this next. Types of Tuberculosis. Medically reviewed by Jill Seladi-Schulman, Ph.

Mycobacterium Tuberculosis. Bone Tuberculosis. Miliary Tuberculosis. Medically reviewed by Judith Marcin, M. Pulmonary Tuberculosis. For example, TB infections usually spread between family members who live in the same house. It would be highly unlikely for you to become infected by sitting next to an infected person on, for instance, a bus or train. Not everyone with TB is infectious.

Children with TB or people with a TB infection that occurs outside the lungs extrapulmonary TB do not spread the infection. But in some cases, the bacteria infect the body but do not cause any symptoms latent TB , or the infection begins to cause symptoms within weeks, months or even years active TB.

People with latent TB are not infectious to others. If the immune system fails to kill or contain the infection, it can spread within the lungs or other parts of the body and symptoms will develop within a few weeks or months. This is known as active TB. Latent TB could develop into an active TB disease at a later date, particularly if your immune system becomes weakened.

With treatment, TB can almost always be cured. A course of antibiotics will usually need to be taken for 6 months. Several different antibiotics are used because some forms of TB are resistant to certain antibiotics. If you're infected with a drug-resistant form of TB, treatment with 6 or more different medications may be needed.

If you're diagnosed with pulmonary TB, you'll be contagious for about 2 to 3 weeks into your course of treatment. You will not usually need to be isolated during this time, but it's important to take some basic precautions to stop the infection spreading to your family and friends.