Tuberculosis history and symptoms
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Tuberculosis Microchapters |
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Diagnosis |
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Treatment |
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Tuberculosis history and symptoms On the Web |
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American Roentgen Ray Society Images of Tuberculosis history and symptoms |
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Risk calculators and risk factors for Tuberculosis history and symptoms |
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Assistant Editor-in-Chief: Somal Khan
Overview
Tuberculosis, or TB is a bacterial infection that kills 3 million people worldwide, more people than any other infection in the world. Approximately one-third of the world is infected, and 15 million people in the US. Active tuberculosis kills 60% of the time if not treated, but treatment cures 90% of patients. Most people are infected with TB have latent TB. This means that the bacteria is controlled by the body's immune system. People with latent TB do not have symptoms and cannot transmit TB to other people. However, later if the infected person has a weakened immune system (AIDS, young children, elderly, sick with other diseases, etc.), the bacteria can break out leading to active TB, or TB disease.