A person has TB disease if the bacteria start to become active. If the x-ray is normal, the person probably does not have active TB disease in the lungs. If the chest x-ray is abnormal, further tests will be done to see if disease exists. Chest pain may also occur. For TB disease outside the lungs, the symptoms vary by where the disease occurs.
People can have TB disease without having any symptoms.
A doctor will prescribe as many as 4 types of medicine to treat the disease. In most cases, the medicine will quickly prevent you from being able to spread the bacteria to others, allowing you to return to work or school. Although you may feel cured, it will take 6 months or longer to completely treat the disease. If this is not done, the symptoms may come back and the TB bacteria may stop responding to the medication, making it harder to treat the disease. If this happens, you will have to be treated longer, the medicines used will not work as well, and you may experience serious side effects.