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Tuberculosis, often abbreviated as TB, is a serious disease that, when left untreated or when poorly treated, can kill.
But the good news is that there is a combination of drugs that, when taken as prescribed, can easily cure it.
TB mainly affects the lungs, but there is no part of the body that it cannot affect.
The lungs are the most commonly affected organ because the bacteria that cause TB are spread through the air when someone with TB coughs, laughs, sneezes, sings or even speaks.
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When others breathe in the air containing the TB germs, they may get infected.
TB infection will often not result in disease because TB germs can remain dormant, meaning the infected person does not necessarily get sick with TB.
In effect, people with TB infection, unlike those with TB disease, cannot pass the germs on to others.
SUDDEN WEAKENING OF IMMUNE SYSTEM
The progression of TB infection into TB disease is often as a result of the sudden weakening of the immune system of an individual with TB infection.
This occurs mostly as a consequence of being infected with HIV or developing some other health problem that weakens the body’s ability to fight off infections.
Also, the possibility of TB progression is higher if the TB infection occurred less than two years before this progression.
Other predisposing factors include when a person with latent TB infection abuses alcohol and/or uses drugs, or when there is a past history of incorrectly treated TB infection.
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Naturally, babies and young children, because of their underdeveloped immunity, are more prone to developing TB disease after TB infection, as are the elderly because of the weakening of their immunity due to old age.
TB is, however, usually not spread from a pregnant mother to her unborn baby because it cannot cross the placenta.
A rare exception is miliary TB, when TB germs break through the placenta to infect the foetus.
Babies can also be infected during birth if the instruments used in delivery are infected, for example, when an infected breathing mask is used on a baby who needs a mask to help it breathe.
MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT SPREAD
There are many misconceptions about how TB is spread.
Some also believe that sharing cigarettes or exchanging saliva, during kissing, with someone with TB will also make them develop TB.
The fact is that TB germs often do not cause TB when they are swallowed.
But breathing the air exhaled by someone with TB, for example when kissing, can make a previously uninfected person get TB infection and possibly TB disease.
Others also believe that TB is spread through the shaking of hands, sharing food, touching bed linen, or sharing toilet seats or tooth brushes used by an individual with TB.
As explained above, TB is spread through the inhalation of TB germs present in the air, not through these misconceived routes.
TB infection can also come from drinking unpasteurised milk or ingesting other unpasteurised dairy products of infected cattle, and from eating the meat of cattle infected with bovine TB.
Zoonotic TB is known to have the capacity to infect humans, although bovine TB is becoming rare nowadays because milk and dairy products are pasteurised before sale and consumption.
Also, health inspectors often inspect the carcasses of cattle at slaughterhouses for bovine TB before such meat is allowed on the market.
In cases where TB is found, the infected meat is discarded.
PREVENTING THE SPREAD
The surest way of preventing the spread of TB is for people with the disease to always cover their mouth and nose when coughing, sneezing and doing other activities that expel the bacteria, with disposable tissues – not handkerchiefs or any other item that is not meant for single use.
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If possible, they should always wear a clean face mask at all times.
They should also use all their medications as instructed by healthcare providers.
Rather than separating the plates, spoons, cups and other utensils used by people with TB, these items can be shared with them.
Also, rather than treating TB patients with contempt and disdain, as seen in many TB treatment centres, they should be treated like any other patients.
Remember, you can’t catch TB by being a friend of or showing love and affection to an individual with TB.
Famuyiwa is a medical doctor and an expert in public health and infectious diseases
