Which microbe causes tuberculosis

Tuberculosis TB is a contagious or infectious disease. It is spread from person-to-person. A person is often infected by inhaling the germs. These germs have been sprayed into the air by someone with the active disease who coughs.

However, inhaling the germ does not mean you will develop active disease. People with active tuberculosis must take many types of medications for months to get rid of the infection and prevent antibiotic resistance.

Although your body can harbor the bacteria that cause tuberculosis, your immune system usually can prevent you from becoming sick. For this reason, doctors make a distinction between:. Tuberculosis can also affect other parts of your body, including the kidneys, spine or brain.

When TB occurs outside your lungs, signs and symptoms vary according to the organs involved. For example, tuberculosis of the spine might cause back pain, and tuberculosis in your kidneys might cause blood in your urine. See your doctor if you have a fever, unexplained weight loss, drenching night sweats or a persistent cough. These are often indications of TB but can also result from other conditions. Also, see your doctor if you think you've been exposed to TB.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people who have an increased risk of tuberculosis be screened for latent TB infection. This recommendation includes people who:. Tuberculosis is caused by bacteria that spread from person to person through microscopic droplets released into the air. This can happen when someone with the untreated, active form of tuberculosis coughs, speaks, sneezes, spits, laughs or sings.

Although tuberculosis is contagious, it's not easy to catch. You're much more likely to get tuberculosis from someone you live or work with than from a stranger. Most people with active TB who've had appropriate drug treatment for at least two weeks are no longer contagious. Tuberculosis TB is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The bacteria usually attack the lungs, but TB bacteria can attack any part of the body such as the kidney, spine, and brain. Not everyone infected with TB bacteria becomes sick.

If not treated properly, TB disease can be fatal. Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link. Not everyone with TB is infectious. Children with TB or people with a TB infection that occurs outside the lungs extrapulmonary TB do not spread the infection. But in some cases, the bacteria infect the body but do not cause any symptoms latent TB , or the infection begins to cause symptoms within weeks, months or even years active TB.