![]() ![]() People who are taking drugs that block tumor necrosis factor alpha, such as infliximab (Remicade) or etanercept (Enbrel).People with other diseases that increase the risk of developing active TB once infected, such as insulin-requiring diabetes, end-stage renal disease, prior gastrectomy, or HIV infection.People who are starting to take a drug that suppresses the immune system, which may reactivate latent tuberculosis.People whose work or living arrangements put them in contact with people who have active tuberculosis.People who have recently come to the United States from a country with a high rate of tuberculosis (including Russia and countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Eastern Europe).In the United States, screening for latent TB is done in the following populations: (1, 3, 4) If caught in the latent stage, TB can be treated before the disease becomes active and infectious. Slowing the spread of TB requires catching and treating it early. Several laboratory and imaging tests may need to be done to definitively diagnose active TB. Since tuberculosis bacteria grow slowly and symptoms can be confused with those of other conditions, careful testing is required. It takes six months of eight-hours-per-day contact to get infected with TB or two months of 24-hour contact, he explains.Ībout 30 percent of people who are exposed to Mycobacterium tuberculosis will develop latent TB, and if that’s left untreated, around 5 to 10 percent of those people could end up getting active tuberculosis disease at some point in their lifetime. But the disease is pretty hard to spread. It’s an infectious disease,” says Lee Reichman, MD, MPH, the founding executive director at Rutgers Global Tuberculosis Institute in Newark, New Jersey. Active tuberculosis poses a public health risk because it can spread to others if left untreated. People can carry latent TB for years before it becomes active, making them sick. The likelihood that an average person in the United States will be exposed to tuberculosis (TB) is low, but if you think you’ve been exposed to the bacteria that causes this infection, it’s important to get tested. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |