People are under the impression that TB affects only people who are poor. This is a misconception. Although TB is rare in the developed nations like American and Australia, it is still widely prevalent in the under developed and developing countries in Africa and Asia.
TB is fatal and the sooner it is diagnosed the better as there is a cure and medications that can kill the disease.
Here are facts that you need to know about TB:
- TB is curable
Treatment of TB usually lasts for a minimum of 6 months. If the medication is taken properly without missing any days and as instructed by the doctor, it is completely curable.
- TB affects lungs but can also affect other organs
TB primarily affects the lungs but can spread to the other organs of the body. As a matter of fact in the socially and economically backward people, women suffer from TB of the genital area making them infertile.
The most common symptoms of TB are persistent coughing even after 3 weeks of treatment, low grade fever, blood in phlegm, difficulty in breathing and unexplained weight loss. TB can attack any organ of your body from the brain to the spine. So beware.
- Fresh air and sunlight can help prevent TB
TB microorganisms love damp and cold places. So if you want to keep TB at bay you might want to consider keeping the windows open and let the sunlight in, along with fresh air.
- Good health and nutrition helps keep TB away
A diet that is rich in food that contain anti-oxidants, regular exercise and not taking stress can boost our immunity and helps our body fight against the microbes that cause TB. Good nutrition is important for the body to fight free radicals caused by any disease and repair any cellular damage.
- A lot of us have latent TB
What a lot of us don’t know is that we might already have a form of latent (inactive) TB due to exposure at any time in our lives.
But maybe due to our strong immune system it did not lead to an infection. So when our immune system weakens, the infections take it chance and travel from the foci in the lungs to other organs and cause a secondary infection.
- BCG vaccine doesn’t prevent you from getting TB
The vaccine BCG cannot prevent us from getting secondary TB. But still the vaccine is taken to prevent its initial attack on the body.
- Not completing antibiotic course makes TB harder to treat
Only the completion of the full course of antibiotics will cure the disease. If we fail to complete the course, TB can remain in our body and it will give organisms the opportunity to develop drug resistance to the first-line drugs used in treating TB.
- Children also suffer from TB but are often undiagnosed
People live in the ignorance that children cannot suffer from TB. But a lot of deaths in children are caused by TB. Children who have bad immune systems or those who are undernourished are more susceptible to TB. The best protection you can give your child is breastfeed them for at least 6 months. Breast milk consists of lots of immune boosters that keep diseases like TB away.
- You don’t have to feel sick to spread TB
Sometimes you don’t even know that you have TB. And when you cough or sneeze you might spread droplets and infect others.
- Multi-drug resistant TB is expensive and difficult to treat
When you discontinue the TB medication, the microorganisms become immune to the first-help TB treating drugs. So in these cases, TB then becomes difficult to treat as it doesn’t respond to the regular TB medication and needs special medication that becomes expensive.
Written by: Rasha Ashraf
