[Bored chemist]

His parents were probably vaccinated when they were young and also they probably have a more robust immune system. They might catch it, but it's no suprise it got his sister rather than his parents.

[Seany]

Right..
How come the treatment is a simple pill every day for 6 months?
Would this get rid of it completely?

[iko]

If you want to learn more...
go to a proper scientific website:

http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/medicine/tuberculosis/readmore.html

[Seany]

Thanks ikoD

[iko]

You welcome Hurricane

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/interviews/interview/893/

[Seany]

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

[JimBob]

I have a friend who had to go the the VA (Veterans Administration) hospital for some long term care for an intestinal problem. While there he contracted TB  - he was on 3 drugs for over a year and they are still not sure that he will ever be free of the microbe.

 

[Seany]

That is worrying..
Is this because TB is now immune to antibiotics??

[iko]

That is worrying..
Is this because TB is now immune to antibiotics??

Indeed Seany.     http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/interviews/interview/893/

[Seany]

So there currently isn't a treatment for it??

[iko]

So there currently isn't a treatment for it??

indeed...it's more or less as devastating as a hurricane!   []

...
Chris - What’s the long-term prognosis here with TB? The numbers look pretty scary. About a third of the world’s population are now carrying it.

Clifford - True but in terms of the most cases of TB treatment is very effective if you can make sure that he patient is taking the therapy regularly. The places where you can’t trust patients to keep therapy will get what you call DOTS which stands for directly observed therapy. That’s a good way of ensuring that the patient is taking therapy because somebody watches the patient swallow the medication. MDR TB is treatable if we catch it early. XDR TB has a very poor prognosis, unfortunately.

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/interviews/interview/893/

[lolaryan]

M. lepra and M. tuberculosis are so closely related that they can cause a certain degree of immunity against the other; so throughout history there have tended to be waves of either leprosy or TB. TB appears to have won out as it is the more aggressive disease and is also thriving due to the HIV pandemic.
Interesting it has been found that in HIV patients that are also affected with leprosy; their leprosy only becomes a problem when the HIV is treated and their T cell count increase as then their immune system starts to fight the leprosy producing the gross inflammation which results in some of the symptoms of leprosy.
It is thought that M. lepra rose from the mutation of M. bovis and that humans picked M. bovis up from domesticated cattle through living with them or by consuming dairy products. Therefore it was more likely to have arisen in countries that had domesticated cattle and where the people consumed dairy products and were not lactose intolerant.

[beckna]

hi i had avium tb when i was a child, i caught it of a cockatoo! (bird) apparently there are alot of animals you can catch this from!!! as you all seem to know alot about tb i was wondering if anyone can answer a question for me?? can i have avium tb again?? i have looked everywhere to find this answer but no where gives me info?