Scientists discovered years ago tubercles in mummified bodies, this proving that TB has existed at least since 2000BC. Also, writings of the ancient Egypt, Babylonia and China mention about the existence of TB.



Tuberculosis is considered by the unadvised ones to be a disease that affects only the poor and disadvantaged people. This is an old conception and it has been proven that anyone can get affected by tuberculosis.

The easiest to infect are the children and people who have a weakened immune system (those undergoing chemotherapy, those who had an organ transplant and now take immunosuppressive drugs, and those infected with HIV).

In the elder people, tuberculosis (TB) is not easy to detect and diagnose because it does not manifest so clearly in these people, and doctors can easily be lead to suspect another disease.

If you have a strong immune system you could not get ill of TB even if you come in contact with infected subjects. You could also inactivate the virus and keep it locked in your lungs by creating with the help of macrophages a scar tissue all around the infected area, but in the moment you get a weaker immune system (like those people who have HIV) the bacillus could reactivate and manifest, and even affect other organs.

Most people's immune system contains the primary infection, but some do not have this particularity, and so, the disease may occur within weeks after the primary infection. Some people shed the TB germ into their lungs for years and at some moment the germs could activate and the infection could manifest.

And easy and reliable test to see if you are infected with tuberculosis microbes is the intra-dermal reaction, a skin test. If positive, doctors will try an isolation of the germ by culture in the laboratory. In the elder people, even though the tuberculosis microbes are generally found in a small amount, it makes doctors consider the test positive.

If the suspected person coughs, doctors take the sputum and with the help of the microscope they search for the TB germs in the sputum. This is quite an accurate method of diagnosing TB.

In treating TB, doctors use a combination of antibiotics because using only one drug could lead to the bacterial resistance to this drug. The drugs used nowadays are: isoniazid, rifampin, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol, in different combinations.

Generally if the treatment is followed all the way, a person can heal without problems, and reintegrate within the society in about 6 to 9 months.