Before the world was ravaged by COVID-19, there was another highly infectious deadly disease — tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis is the second most deadly infectious disease in the world. It was only relinquished of its title of “most deadly infectious disease” when COVID-19 appeared. While COVID-19 is usually easy to treat, with most people not requiring any medication, tuberculosis can be fatal if not treated and treatment takes a minimum of 6 months.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 10.6 million people fell ill with tuberculosis in 2021[1]. In Singapore alone, tuberculosis is endemic, with 1,306 new cases of active tuberculosis among Singapore residents [2].
To understand the gravity of being infected with tuberculosis, we must learn more about what it is and how it affects us.
Tuberculosis, commonly known as TB, is a highly infectious disease caused by a bacteria known as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. TB usually affects the lungs but can spread to other parts of the body such as the brain and spine. It is passed from person to person via respiratory droplets, but not everyone exposed to TB will develop symptoms.
There are two types of TB:
The symptoms of active TB are as follows:
TB is diagnosed in the following ways:
Both latent and active TB must be treated to prevent symptoms or the worsening of symptoms. Treatment usually involves a combination of antibiotics that must be taken over the course of 6 months to a year. After a few weeks of treatment, you will no longer be contagious — but you must continue with your treatment until the course of antibiotics is complete.
While most TB infections can be cured using antibiotics, there are some TB infections that are drug resistant. This means that the TB-causing bacteria have developed and is now resistant to certain medications. Hence a different group of medications will be used to treat it and must be taken for a much longer period of time, approximately 30 months or two and a half years.
Since TB is treated using antibiotics, the whole course of medication needs to be completed regardless of how you feel or if your symptoms are alleviated. If you do not complete the whole course of antibiotics, the TB-causing bacteria can multiply and grow back and may even become drug-resistant, making them even harder to eradicate.
TB is not a disease that will go away on its own.
In fact, if TB is left untreated, 45% of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) negative individuals will die, while nearly all HIV-positive individuals will die.
Furthermore, if you have untreated active TB, you can go on to infect 5-15 people at any one time as TB is easily spread when you speak, cough, sneeze, laugh, or spit, and it does not require a high concentration of bacteria to spread and infect others.
If active TB is left untreated, it could:
Although individuals with latent TB do not have any symptoms and are not contagious, it is still important to treat them because their infection can progress to active TB if their immune system weakens or if they start taking immunosuppressive drugs.
Some individuals may experience the following side effects from TB medications:
TB is curable if you adhere strictly to your treatment regime. If you have just been diagnosed with TB, you must observe the following to keep your loved ones safe:
There are various ways in which you can reduce your risk of an active TB infection, these are:
In conclusion, treatment for TB is absolutely necessary and should be started immediately once you have tested positive. Remember to complete all medications and isolate yourself for the first two weeks of treatment. TB is curable and is no longer the death sentence it once was. Get treated and get cured!
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