8/13/2019 Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment - American Lung Association

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Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment

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What are the Symptoms of TB?

A person with TB infection will have no symptoms. A person w ith active TB disea se mayhave any, all or none o f the following symptoms:

A persistent coughConstant fatigueWeight lossLoss of appetiteFeverCoughing up bloodNight sweats

These symptoms can a lso occur with other disease s so it is important to s ee ahea lthcare provider and to let them find out if you have TB. A person w ith TB diseasemay feel perfectly healthy or may only have a cough from time to time. If you th ink youhave been exposed to TB, get a TB test.

How is TB Detected?

TB can be detected through a skin test o r a TB blood tes t.

The skin tes t is done by injecting a small amount of fluid called tuberculin into the skinin the arm. You w ill be told to return within 48 to 72 hours to have a healthcare workercheck the a rm to se e if a bump has developed. The healthcare worker will meas ure thebump and tell you if your reaction to the test is positive or negative. If it's positive, itusua lly means you have been infected w ith the TB germ.

The TB blood tes t measures how your immune system reacts to the germs tha t causeTB.

If you ha ve a positive te st for TB infection, it only means that you have be en infec tedwith TB germs. It does not te ll whe ther you have developed TB disease. Yo u w ill b egiven other tes ts, such as a chest x-ray and a check of your sputum (cough ed upmucus), to see whether you have TB disea se.

How is TB Treated?

Treatment for TB depends on whether a person has active TB disease or only TBinfection.

If you ha ve become infected w ith TB, but do not ha ve active TB disease , you may ge t preventive therapy . This treatment kills germs that are not doing any damage right

now , but could so do in the future. The most common preventive the rapy is a dailydose o f isoniazid (INH) for 6 to 9 months.

If you have active TB disea se you will probably be treated with a combination o f several drugs for 6 to 12 months. You may only have to s tay a short time in thehospital, if at all, and can then continue taking medication a t home. After a few weeks

ou can robabl even return to normal activities and not have to worr about

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8/13/2019 Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment - American Lung Association

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infecting othe rs.

The most common treatment for active TB is INH plus two to three other drugsincluding rifampin, pyrazinamide and ethambutol. You will probably begin to feel betteronly a few weeks after starting to take the drugs.

It is very important tha t you continue to take the medicine correctly for the full lengthof trea tment. If you take the medicine incorrectly or stop taking it, you may becomesick again and w ill be able to infect others with TB.

If you do n't take the medicine correctly and you become sick with TB a second time,the TB may be harder to treat if it has become drug resistant. This means that somedrugs used to treat TB cannot fight the TB germs in the body. TB that is resistant tomore than one drug, called multidrug-resistant TB (MDR TB) is very dangerous.Extensively drug-resistant TB ( XDR TB ) is an even more da ngerous version of MDR TBbecause so many of the most e ffective TB drugs do not w ork against it.

Learn about preventing tuberculosis

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