PTB Facts: Things You Need to Know

What is PTB?
Pulmonary Tuberculosis (PTB) is a contagious disease of the lungs caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Although the bacteria generally affect the lungs, they also affect other areas such as the spine, the kidneys, and the brain. To differentiate, tuberculosis of the lungs is referred to as pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and the tuberculosis in other areas as extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB). PTB is more common.

How is PTB spread?
PTB is spread primarily through air droplets when a person with symptomatic TB coughs or sneezes. When these infected air droplets are breathed in, the bacteria lodge in the lungs. The disease can also be spread through skin wounds, but this can only happen in rare cases, such as if you’re a lab technician handling TB specimens.

How do you know if you have PTB?
If you are showing symptoms of the disease, see a pulmonary doctor straight away. Symptoms are strong indications that active tuberculosis has developed. The doctor will recommend tests to verify what you really have before prescribing therapy. Symptoms include the following:
  • coughing
  • fever
  • chest pain
  • night sweating and chills
  • shortness of breathe
  • loss of appetite
  • fatigue
  • (in severe cases) coughing up blood
It can also be that you were exposed to the bacteria but are asymptomatic and only discovered you are infected during a routine checkup. If you are not showing any symptoms, what you have is probably latent tuberculosis and not contagious.

What are active PTB and latent PTB?
Latent PTB means a person is infected with the disease but is not showing symptoms and is not contagious. This means the infection is in its early state or that the immune system is actively fighting the bacteria and keeping them from wreaking havoc to the body. Latent PTB will likely develop into active disease if the immune system is weakened.

Active PTB means the infection has developed into active tuberculosis because the body’s immune cells can no longer contain the bacteria. Active PTB is contagious.

Who are most susceptible to the disease?
Children and people with compromised or weakened immune system, such as old people and those suffering from diabetes or HIV, are the most susceptible to tuberculosis.

How is PTB cured?
PTB is very curable and recovery rate is very high if patients follow the doctor’s instructions religiously. Length of treatment can last from 6 months to 1 year or so, depending on the severity of the disease. Multiple drugs are given at once to prevent bacterial resistance to drugs. Treatments are adjusted depending on the bacteria’s reaction to the antibiotics.

Getting treatment is more urgent in active PTB cases so as to prevent the disease from further worsening and spreading. In latent cases, treatment is also necessary to prevent an active disease from developing at a later time. 

Talk with your doctor about the possible side-effects of the antibiotics and what you should do in case you experience them.

What is drug-resistant PTB?
Some people stop taking antibiotics when they start to feel better even if they have not yet completed the full therapy, and some skip dosage for different reasons. When therapy is not completed or the patient fails to follow the prescribed treatment, bacteria could acquire drug resistance. Treating drug-resistant bacteria can cost more money and take longer time to treat. New strains of drug-resistant bacteria can pose serious problems because there are no available drugs to fight them.

What are PTB scars?
TB leaves scar tissues in the lungs even after successful therapy. They are not something that can be removed cosmetically and they show every time you get a chest x-ray. There are cases when the disease leaves no scars at all or when the scars are very minimal that they don’t register as something “suspicious.” In most cases, however, you will have to live with the scarring, probably for the rest of your life. This can be inconvenient especially if you dream of getting employment abroad—some foreign employers reject applicants with history of PTB, which the scarring of the lung tissues can indicate. Some local employers may also discriminate against applicants with lung scars. If you have a regular employment, you may also be required to present an annual certification from your lung doctor stating that they are just scars and not a recurring disease.

What to do during the course of therapy?
If your case is latent, there’s no need for you to stop working, isolate yourself, or inform anyone that you have the disease. Ensure that you get plenty of rest and healthy food every day and exercise regularly to strengthen your immune system and to give your body a higher chance of recovery.

If your TB is active, you need to isolate yourself until such time that the disease is no longer contagious, as determined by your doctor. You also need to inform the city health department for documentation purposes.

Can I become infected again?
There’s really no guaranteed protection against the disease, and getting rid of the TB does not automatically make you immune to the bacteria. So if you become exposed to a person with active PTB, chances are you will be infected again.


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