What kind of microorganism causes tb

People may feel tired, lose weight, and have a low-grade fever. The infection may progress slowly or remain stable for long periods of time. If it progresses, people may regularly spit up blood and have trouble breathing. Laboratory analysis of sputum taken from the infected person is needed to distinguish a MAC infection from tuberculosis.

A chest x-ray is taken. It can show some differences between tuberculosis and a MAC infection. Because drug resistance is often a problem when treating MAC infections, doctors tend to give infected people a combination of antibiotics.

A combination of three drugs— clarithromycin or azithromycin , rifampin , and ethambutol —is often used. Drugs are usually taken for 12 to 18 months. If this combination is ineffective, other combinations are tried.

MAC infection of the lymph nodes may develop in children, typically those aged 1 to 5 years. The infection is usually caused by eating soil or drinking water that is contaminated with the mycobacteria.

Antibiotics are usually not necessary to cure the infection. Instead, the infected lymph nodes may be removed surgically. To diagnosis widespread MAC infection, doctors usually try to grow culture the bacteria from a sample of blood or from tissue taken from the bone marrow, the liver, or an infected lymph node.

These infections are treated with two or three antibiotics, often clarithromycin or azithromycin plus ethambutol and sometimes rifabutin. HIV is transmitted Also, treating AIDS effectively is important. Such treatment can improve the immune system's ability to fight the infection. This usually happens either within the first year or two of infection, or when the immune system is weakened — for example, if someone is having chemotherapy treatment for cancer.

Page last reviewed: 12 November Next review due: 12 November Latent or active TB In most healthy people, the immune system is able to destroy the bacteria that cause TB. Drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis emerge when an antibiotic fails to kill all of the bacteria it targets.

The surviving bacteria become resistant to that drug and often other antibiotics as well. Some TB bacteria have developed resistance to the most commonly used treatments, such as isoniazid and rifampin Rifadin, Rimactane. Some TB strains have also developed resistance to drugs less commonly used in TB treatment, such as the antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones, and injectable medications including amikacin and capreomycin Capastat. These medications are often used to treat infections that are resistant to the more commonly used drugs.

A healthy immune system often successfully fights TB bacteria. However, several conditions and medications can weaken your immune system, including:. Your risk of getting tuberculosis is higher if you live in, emigrate from or travel to areas with high tuberculosis rates. Areas include:.

Without treatment, tuberculosis can be fatal. Untreated active disease typically affects your lungs, but it can affect other parts of your body, as well. If you test positive for latent TB infection, your doctor might advise you to take medications to reduce your risk of developing active tuberculosis.

Only active TB is contagious. If you have active TB , it generally takes a few weeks of treatment with TB medications before you're not contagious anymore. Follow these tips to help keep your friends and family from getting sick:. This is the most important step you can take to protect yourself and others from tuberculosis. Active TB is an illness in which the TB bacteria are rapidly multiplying and invading different organs of the body.

Miliary TB. Miliary TB is a rare form of active disease that occurs when TB bacteria find their way into the bloodstream. Latent TB Infection. A: Tuberculosis TB is caused by bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis that most often affect the lungs. Tuberculosis is curable and preventable. TB is spread from person to person through the air. When people with lung TB cough, sneeze or spit, they propel the TB germs into the air.

Pulmonary TB is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis M tuberculosis. This means the bacteria is easily spread from an infected person to someone else. You can get TB by breathing in air droplets from a cough or sneeze of an infected person.

The resulting lung infection is called primary TB. When it affects the lungs, it's called pulmonary TB. Active TB is contagious and causes symptoms. Latent TB , on the other hand, doesn't cause symptoms and isn't contagious. Read on to learn more about the different types of TB , including several types of extrapulmonary TB.

Tuberculosis TB is caused by a type of bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It's spread when a person with active TB disease in their lungs coughs or sneezes and someone else inhales the expelled droplets, which contain TB bacteria.