What are the symptoms of TB disease?
Usually, TB disease affects people s lungs. People with TB often have a cough that won t go away for months. Eventually, the cough often brings up mucus or blood. They often feel very weak. People with TB disease may also suffer weight loss, but this usually happens very slowly, so they may not notice. Sweating during the night and feeling tired all the time are other common symptoms. Depending on the way TB spreads through the body, symptoms of TB disease can vary. Sometimes people experience joint pain like arthritis if the TB is in their bones. If people with TB disease don t get medical help, they could die.
• fever • night sweats • fatigue • weight loss • persistent productive cough, and sometimes, coughing up blood. TB disease can occur in other parts of the body and show different symptoms, depending on the site. Q. How do you test for TB? A simple, painless skin test is used to screen for tuberculosis. This test is offered free of charge by the Health Department. Should the test be positive, you may have a chest X-ray to see if there are any abnormalities in the lungs. Q. What is the difference between latent TB infection (LTBI) and TB disease? People with latent TB infection test positive on their skin test for TB but they are not sick and they can not spread the disease to anyone else. People with active TB disease are sick and usually have symptoms. ONLY PEOPLE SICK WITH ACTIVE TB DISEASE CAN SPREAD IT TO OTHERS. Q. How is tuberculosis spread? TB is spread in the air. When an untreated person with active TB disease in their lungs coughs, the germs are spread in the air. If a person
• fever • night sweats • fatigue • weight loss • persistent productive cough, and sometimes, coughing up blood. TB disease can occur in other parts of the body and show different symptoms, depending on the site. Q. How do you test for TB? A simple, painless skin test is used to screen for tuberculosis. This test is offered by the Health Department. Should the test be positive, you may have a chest X-ray to see if there are any abnormalities in the lungs. Q. What is the difference between latent TB infection (LTBI) and TB disease? People with latent TB infection test positive on their skin test for TB but they are not sick and they can not spread the disease to anyone else. People with active TB disease are sick and usually have symptoms. ONLY PEOPLE SICK WITH ACTIVE TB DISEASE CAN SPREAD IT TO OTHERS. Q. How is tuberculosis spread? TB is spread in the air. When an untreated person with active TB disease in their lungs coughs, the germs are spread in the air. If a person breathes in the
