jan 1, 1882 - Tuberculosis

Description:

One person with active disease can infect as many as 20 other people. Smaller saliva particles can float for several hours = droplet nuclei, killed easily by sunlight, more effectively transmitted indoors. TB cannot be spread by fomites, must breath in the same air a person with active TB breathes out. A person may contract pulmonary TB from inhaling droplets from a cough or sneeze by an infected person. Granuloma is in the lung tissue. A person with latent TB infection has a small amount of TB bacteria in the body (alive but inactive), cannot spread TB bacteria to others, does not feel sick, usually has a skin test or blood test result indicating TB infection, typically has a normal chest x-ray, sputum smears and cultures are negative, does not require respiratory isolation, and should consider treatment for latent TB infection to prevent TB disease. A person with active TB disease has a large amount of active TB bacteria in the body, may spread TB bacteria to others, may feel sick and may have symptoms such as cough, fever, and/or weight loss, usually has a skin test or blood test result indicating TB infection, may have an abnormal chest x-ray, sputum, smears and cultures may be positive, may require respiratory isolation, and needs to treat active TB disease.