TuberculosisTuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or Tuberculosis) is a common and deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This bacteria is transmitted through the respiratory route and is very slow-growing. It is engulfted by phagocytes in the lungs but lives and multiplies within these cells. Eventaully the body tries to contain the infection by building up a tough "tubercle" around the bacteria-infected white blood cells. Tuberculosis most commonly attacks the lungs (as pulmonary TB) but can also affect the central nervous system, the lymphatic system, the circulatory system, the genitourinary system, bones, joints and even the skin. Other mycobacteria species can also cause tuberculosis, but these species do not usually infect healthy adults.
Over one-third of the world's population (over 2,000,000,000 people!) has been infected by the TB bacterium, and new infections occur at a rate of one per second. Most of these people never develop the full-blown disease. However, one in ten latent infections will progress to active TB disease, which, if left untreated, kills more than half of its victims.
In 2004, mortality and morbidity statistics included 14.6 million chronic active TB cases, 8.9 million new cases, and 1.6 million deaths, mostly in developing countries. In addition, a rising number of people in the developed world are contracting tuberculosis because their immune systems are compromised by immunosuppressive drugs, substance abuse, or HIV/AIDS.
The rise in HIV infections and the neglect of TB control programs have enabled a resurgence of tuberculosis. The emergence of drug-resistant strains has also contributed to this new epidemic with, from 2000 to 2004, 20% of TB cases being resistant to standard treatments and 2% resistant to second-line drugs. TB incidence varies widely, even in neighboring countries, apparently because of differences in health care systems. The World Health Organization declared TB a global health emergency in 1993, and the Stop TB Partnership developed a Global Plan to Stop Tuberculosis that aims to save 14 million lives between 2006 and 2015.



--A chest x-ray can tell a Doctor whether a patient has TB
-- This chest x-ray is positive for TB.













-- This is a TB test to see if you have been exposed to Tuberculosis
-- 1 cc of TB reagent is place subcutaneously in an arm.
-- Patients return to have their test read in between 48-72 hours giving the reagent time to react.












-- This is a Positive skin test meaning this person has been exposed to TB.
-- The red swollen area is measured with a ruler and is measured in duration of millimeters. Any red swollen are reading over 5 mm is consider a positive read out.

-- There is a vaccination that is used in some countries that will react with the TB reagent
used in the skin test. If a person has had this vaccination their test could come
back as looking positive.