Friday, January 1, 2010

Can you get TB (tuberculosis) without lung scarring


Can you get TB (tuberculosis) without lung scarring?
Is it possible to survive TB (inactive or active) without getting scars in your lungs?
Respiratory Diseases - 2 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
If it was never active, then yes, you wouldn't have scarring in your lungs. Unless you got treated with antibiotics though, you'd likely still be infected and could develop active TB later. Also, although the vast majority of TB cases affect the lungs, TB is capable of infecting other tissues, so you could have TB without having lung problems (although this is rare). As far as I know, if you have active TB in your lungs, it would definitely lead to scarring.
2 :
There is no such disease as,"inactive TB" The term,"inactive" refers to the state of being exposed to mycobacterium tuberculinum, (the germ that causes TB) without developing the disease. This does not mean that there will be no changes on a chest x-ray. People exposed to the bacteria may have a,"primary nodule" on their chest x-ray. This occurs when the body encapsulates the bacteria in a fibrous sac preventing the bacteria from multiplying and infecting the lungs or other organ systems,(milliary tuberculosis) A combination of drugs is used to fight the infection,(commonly rifampin and INH.) The course of treatment is generally one year. It is important to remember that the lungs have built-in capacity to compensate for damage and unless scarring is very extensive, you probably never would notice a change. Like all diseases early detection and treatment can minimize damage



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