Tuberculosis is a serious bacterial infection that mostly affects the lungs. However, depending on how advanced a person’s case, TB can also afflict the spine, kidneys or brain. TB spreads easily from person to person and via cough or mucus particles that are in the air.
TB can be either latent or active. It is important to understand the differences between these two, as which stage you are in will dictate what treatment measures your doctor recommends and your anticipated recovery time.
Most people are unaware that they have TB in their systems until they start developing symptoms. Most symptoms of TB mimic those of other common ailments. However, the symptoms toward the end of the list are characteristic of the disease and are more worrisome than those at the top:
If you develop these symptoms, you should get tested for TB immediately. With an official diagnosis, your doctor can begin treatment right away. Though the type of treatment you will undergo depends on several factors, including your age, overall health, severity of sickness and anticipated duration of the condition, to name a few, TB treatment typically entails antibiotics and a short-term hospitalization.
Treating tuberculosis is an extensive and lengthy process. For latent TB, you can expect to be on antibiotics for between six to 12 months, though patients with more robust immune system may only require three months of two courses of antibiotics.
If you have active TB, you will have to take three or more antibiotics for between six to 12 months to combat the disease. Infected persons typically begin to improve within just a few short weeks, and they are no longer contagious after several. However, it is imperative that TB patients complete the full course of treatment as directed. It is also important they avoid habits and factors that can exacerbate the illness, slow the recovery time and, ultimately, result in complications.
If you do not follow through with TB treatment, you are at risk of developing complications. Complications of TB are serious and include, among others, the following:
The complications of TB are severe and can become life threatening. For this reason, it is imperative that you do your part to help your body recover from the disease.
Even when you follow doctor’s orders, TB can take months to a year to cure completely. When you do not follow doctor’s orders, though, you put yourself at-risk of developing serious complications. Though your doctor will advise you of what and what not to do and eat during your recovery period, it may help to familiarize yourself with factors that can make tuberculosis worse.
Tuberculosis is a disease that primarily affects the lungs, so it should go without saying that smoking will interfere with your TB recovery in some way, if you choose to maintain the habit. In fact, smoking increases your risk of developing active TB, as smoking plays a role in a reduced immune response. It also increases your risk of infection while simultaneously reducing your body’s ability to fight it.
Additionally, smoking can increase your mortality rate of tuberculous. Research shows that the tuberculous-related mortality rate among smokers is substantially higher than that among non-smokers or never-smokers — nine time higher in fact. What is promising, however, are the findings that indicate that mortality rates plummet by as much as 65% when smokers quit the habit during treatment. This indicates that quitting smoking is a key aspect of tuberculosis treatment.
Studies also found that smoking during treatment has an adverse effect on efforts, resulting in substantially delayed recovery times. This is in large part because smoking hinders the body’s ability to fight off infection, but also in part because smoking is strongly associated with the abandonment of treatment. This occurs even when smoking happens independently of drugs and alcohol use.
Nicotine does not just affect smokers. Researchers found that breathing in second-hand smoke can also increase your risk for infection with tuberculosis and for developing active tuberculosis.
Despite being considered “socially acceptable” across most cultures, heavy alcohol use continues to rank as one of the top five risk factors for disability, disease and death across the globe. Moreover, alcohol is a casual link in more than 200 illness and injury conditions, including tuberculosis, worldwide. In fact, researchers attribute an estimated 10% of all TB cases to alcohol use.
Though researchers have long been aware of the association between tuberculosis and alcohol use, the findings regarding the compounding factors that make heavy drinkers more susceptible to TB and TB-related complications are inconclusive. Researchers are not sure whether the increased risk has to do with alcohol use directly or with the secondary effects of drinking. Those include liver damage, kidney damage, malnutrition and social factors. Some social factors that may play a role include homelessness, crowding and imprisonment. However, science does show that alcohol significantly disrupts the immune system, which can reduce a person’s capacity to fight off respiratory illnesses such as tuberculosis.
Not only does alcohol play a role in the incident rates of TB but also, it affects clinical outcomes. TB patients who are also heavy drinkers are more infectious than non-drinkers. They also have higher rates of treatment default and longer recovery times.
If you live with diabetes — either type 1 or type 2 — you have an increased risk of developing active tuberculosis should you come into contact with the infection. Per the findings from several controlled case studies, individuals who live with diabetes are 2.44 to 8.33 times more likely to develop active TB than non-diabetics. Moreover, from the point of receiving a diabetes diagnosis, you are three times more likely to develop TB than individuals who never become diabetic. Sadly, researchers have also found that diabetics are more likely to develop multidrug resistance to tuberculosis treatments.
What is more is that diabetics tend to experience more severe symptoms of TB than non-diabetics. Some symptoms that tend to be more exacerbated in diabetic patients include fever, weight loss, night sweats and dyspnea. Individuals also have an increased risk of relapsing or dying from tuberculosis if they also have diabetes.
The reasons behind the connection between diabetes and tuberculosis are unclear, but researchers show they are there and valid. They also show, though, that active TB is more prevalent among patients who have poor glycemic control than in individuals who properly manage their diabetes. Not only that, but diabetics who mismanage their condition are more likely to develop complications of TB, including an increased risk of infection, than their counterparts. This is positive news, as it suggests that if you properly manage your diabetes, you can reduce your risk of developing any adverse outcomes of TB.
Illicit drug use in and of itself has devastating consequences on health, with an average of between 70,000 and 100,000 drug-related deaths occurring in the U.S. alone each year. Aside from the obvious harm that drugs cause, epidemiological data suggest that the connection between illicit drug use and tuberculosis — along with the transmission of TB — is growing stronger.
Researchers suspect the correlation is so strong largely because of risky lifestyle factors, including crowded housing conditions, malnutrition, lack of healthcare, the grouping and isolation of several people indoors, the sharing of paraphernalia, imprisonment and the spread of HIV infection. A study of 100 patients also shows that, as with smokers and heavy drinkers, illicit drug users tend to abandon treatment with more frequency than individuals in the general population.
The types of drugs one uses tends to influence TB outcomes as well. Hard drugs, such as cocaine, cause damage to the respiratory system and reduce the body’s resistance against active tuberculosis. Heavy drug use also correlates directly with prevalence of both active and latent TB, delayed diagnoses, abandonment or non-compliance with treatment, the need for retreatment, and the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains.
Malnutrition and being underweight are two contributing factors to both the development of active tuberculosis and the worsening of the condition. Tuberculosis is a tough and persistent viral infection, and it requires a hearty immune system to fight it off. If your immune system is weakened for any reason — including because of malnutrition — it will struggle in the battle against TB viral cells. What is worse is that, as TB rampages your body, you will become even more malnourished, creating a vicious cycle in which your immune system gets continually battered by the bacteria.
In addition to skipping drugs, alcohol and nicotine, you should limit your intake of refined sugars, processed foods and fatty meats. Instead, maintain a diet of lean proteins, healthy fibers and, of course, fruits and vegetables. The right diet can go a long way toward boosting your immune system and building up your body’s natural defense against foreign invaders.
To recap, if you hope to beat active tuberculosis, or to stop latent TB in its tracks, you should do the following:
If you do these five things, and if you take your medications as prescribed, you have a strong chance of obtaining a successful outcome as a tuberculosis patient.