Tuberculosis is caused by bacteria that usually affects the lungs. It spreads through the air when people who have TB cough, sneeze or spit. While it is contagious, it typically requires prolonged exposure to spread. Those with weakened immune systems, like people with HIV/AIDS or undergoing chemotherapy, are more at risk of active TB infection. TB bacteria can spread beyond the lungs to other parts of the body if not treated. Proper treatment can cure TB despite its serious potential effects.

1. How tuberculosis affects our body?
Ashna Waseem
Tuberculosis is a potentially dangerous disease that mostly affects the respiratory system. Tiny
droplets of bacteria that cause tuberculosis travel from person to person via coughing and
sneezing.
Even though TB is highly contagious, transmission is difficult.
Tobacco-related deaths were formerly uncommon in affluent countries, but this began to
change around 1985 as a result of an increase in HIV infections. As the immune system is
compromised by HIV, the bacteria that cause tuberculosis cannot be effectively combated. As
a result of tighter control systems in the United States, tuberculosis began to decline in 1993.
However, there is still cause for caution.
How tuberculosis affects our body?
M. tuberculosis is the bacterium that causes TB. When an infected person coughs or sneezes
out the bacterium, it travels through the air and infects others. You are more likely to contract
TB from a close family member or co-worker than from a random stranger because of the
prolonged exposure required to become infected with TB. The bacterium enters the lung tissue
after being breathed.
It is possible for healthy people to have latent tuberculosis, but the disease may not become
active for months or years until the immune system weakens for some reason. People with
compromised immune systems, on the other hand, are more likely to become infected with
active TB right away. Their immune systems are unable to fight the illness when they breathe
in the bacterium, so it settles in their lungs and grows. TB disease can develop within a few
days or weeks in certain situations.

2. An active TB disease indicates that the bacteria are growing and attacking other parts of the
body, such as lymph nodes, bones, kidney, brain and spine. TB can also spread to the skin and
other parts of the body. Blood or lymphatic fluid carries TB bacteria from the lungs to various
body areas.
Who are most at risk?
TB can infect anyone, but those most at risk are the following:
 who have spent time in a country or territory with a high TB prevalence
 in close proximity to an infectious person
 living in a small space
 with diabetes, or any other disease that compromises their immune system
 undergoing immune-suppressing treatments like chemotherapy or biological agents
when they are too young or too old — the immune systems of children and the elderly
are less robust than those of healthy adults.
Conclusion
People who are infected with tuberculosis (TB) cough or sneeze, and these droplets can be
inhaled by others, and they can be infected as well.
Most commonly, it has an effect on the lungs, but it can also have an effect on other organs
such as the stomach (abdomen), glands, bones, or even the nervous system.

3. When properly treated with medications, TB, despite its serious potential, is curable.