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Read articleTuberculosis is a bacterial infection that most often affects the lungs and spreads through the air when an untreated patient coughs. It is completely curable with a full course of treatment, and dangerous mainly when treatment is stopped halfway.
Symptoms
Not everyone gets every symptom, and the pattern can differ in older people, in people with diabetes and in children. These are the ones most often reported.
- Cough lasting more than two weeks
- Fever, particularly in the evenings, with night sweats
- Loss of appetite and unintended weight loss
- Blood in the sputum
- Chest pain and breathlessness
- Persistent tiredness and reduced capacity for work
When to see a doctor
Do not wait these out
If any of the following applies, arrange to be seen the same day. For anything sudden or severe, call 9281862028 or come straight to the emergency department at SIMS — it is open 24 hours and does not need an appointment.
- Any cough persisting beyond two weeks — get sputum tested rather than repeating cough syrup
- Coughing up blood, at any volume
- Fever with weight loss and night sweats
- Symptoms in a household contact of a known tuberculosis patient, or in a person with diabetes or HIV
Tests that may be advised
Your consultant will order only the investigations that change the plan. Most of the following are available on the SIMS campus, so results usually come back the same visit.
- Sputum examination and rapid molecular testing, including for drug resistance
- Chest X-ray
- Complete blood count, ESR and blood sugar
- HIV testing, offered routinely alongside tuberculosis diagnosis
- CT chest, biopsy or fluid examination for extra-pulmonary disease
How it is treated
Treatment is decided case by case — by how advanced the problem is, what else you are being treated for, and what you can realistically sustain. Broadly, it involves the following.
- A full course of anti-tuberculosis treatment under the national programme, taken without interruption
- Regular follow-up sputum testing and weight monitoring
- Nutritional support, which materially affects recovery
- Screening and evaluation of household contacts, especially children
- Cough hygiene and ventilation at home during the infectious period
- Specialist regimens for drug-resistant disease under programme guidance
This page is general information, not a diagnosis
Pulmonary Tuberculosis can look like several other conditions, and the reverse is equally true. Nothing here can replace an examination, your test results and the judgement of the doctor treating you — and no medicine mentioned by name to a friend or relative should be started on the strength of this page. If you recognise yourself in it, book a consultation with the Pulmonology department. If a symptom is sudden or severe, call 9281862028.
