If we detect infection with TB early, we can start treatment to prevent TB disease from developing. Close contacts of a non-infectious case may not be seen at all. Treating all people with TB disease. People with infectious TB disease in their lungs can pass the germ to other people until they have started treatment. After two weeks of treatment, they are no longer infectious to other people.
Treatment is vital.
If you have TB disease, or if you have been infected with the germ but have not yet become unwell, you must take the treatment as directed. We must not forget that TB used to kill many people before we had modern treatments. In most people who breath in TB bacteria and become infected, the body is able to fight the bacteria to stop them from growing. The bacteria become inactive, but they remain alive in the body and can become active later. This is called TB infection.