Tuberculosis (TB) - Latent TB Infection and TB Disease (2024)

FAQs

Tuberculosis (TB) - Latent TB Infection and TB Disease? ›

The latent TB germs are not hurting you and cannot spread to other people. If the TB germs wake up and become active, they can make you sick. This is called active TB disease. You can spread TB to other people if you have active TB disease.

Without treatment, on average 1 in 10 people with latent TB infection will get sick with TB disease in the future. The risk is higher for people with HIV, diabetes, or other conditions that affect the immune system.

Treatment is the only way to remove the TB bacteria from your body. Latent TB treatment is often shorter than treatment for active TB, and it involves less medication. These are all good reasons to treat the latent TB bacteria while you are healthy and before they have a chance to wake up.

A 2014 study found that, even after successful TB treatment, people who had the infection lost an average of 3.6 years of life expectancy compared to those who never had TB. Findings from a 2020 study note that, without treatment, TB can take an average of 7 years off of average life expectancy.

Persons with latent TB infection do not feel sick and do not have any symptoms. They are infected with M. tuberculosis, but do not have TB disease. The only sign of TB infection is a positive reaction to the tuberculin skin test or TB blood test.

Latent TB infection.

This happens when a person has TB bacteria in their body but no symptoms of the disease. The infected person's immune system walls off the TB organisms. And the TB stays inactive throughout life in most people who are infected.

Risk Factors for LTBI

Close contact with the following people increases a person's risk of getting LTBI. People who have active TB. Those who were born or have traveled or lived overseas. Groups with high rates of TB transmission, such as the homeless, injection drug users, and those with HIV/AIDS.

There is no guaranteed "cure" for latent tuberculosis.

TB chest x-rays can only detect active TB in the lungs. This means that you may have latent TB bacteria in your body, even if you have had a clear chest x-ray.

You can take medicine to prevent getting active TB disease. Isoniazid and Rifapentine (INH-RPT) are medicines used together to treat LTBI. They kill the sleeping TB germs before they make you sick. It can take many months for the medicine to kill the TB germs because they are strong.

What is the average age of the dying person due to tuberculosis? ›

The mean age was 59.3 (range: 0.3–96) years. The overall mortality rate was 12.3% (249 cases) and the mean age at death was 74 years; 17.3% (43 cases) of all TB deaths were TB-related. Most of the TB-related deaths occurred early (median survival: 20 days), and the patient died of septic shock.

Pulmonary TB can cause permanent lung damage if not treated early. It can also spread to other parts of the body. Medicines used to treat TB may cause side effects, including: Changes in vision.

There are considerable differences between the two conditions. In terms of symptoms, persons with latent TB do not feel sick and do not have any symptoms, while most persons with active TB experience symptoms, which generally include unexplained weight loss, loss of appetite, night sweats, fever, fatigue and chills.

There are 3 stages of TB—exposure, latent, and active disease. A TB skin test or a TB blood test can diagnose the disease. Treatment exactly as recommended is necessary to cure the disease and prevent its spread to other people.

The lung is the predominant site of TB. Primary pulmonary TB should be distinguished from postprimary pulmonary TB, which is the most frequent TB manifestation in adults (70%–80% cases).

For that reason, anyone with latent TB should undergo treatment with antibiotics to eliminate the bacterium from the body.

CDC and the National Tuberculosis Controllers Association (NTCA) preferentially recommend short-course, rifamycin-based, 3- or 4-month latent TB infection treatment regimens over 6- or 9-month isoniazid monotherapy. Short course regimens include: Three months of once-weekly isoniazid plus rifapentine (3HP)

The TB control program will determine if the employee has latent TB infection or TB disease. Since people with latent TB infection cannot spread TB to others, nothing further will need to be done in the workplace.