Treatment consists of relieving the symptoms of COPD, preventing complications, educating smokers to stop, and encouraging all patients to eliminate any airborne irritants. Patients are also taught deep breathing exercises to strengthen muscles used in respiration and are trained to cough effectively. Oxygen therapy is sometimes necessary as well. Some people who contract tuberculosis fail to take their medication properly. It is this lack of compliance that is often cited as the reason for the increasing spread of this dread disease.
Tuberculosis is a serious, chronic infection.
In about five percent of those exposed, tuberculosis develops within one year. Tuberculosis is transmitted through the air, particularly after an infected person coughs. The initial infection with TB generally does not produce any symptoms. When symptoms do appear, infected individuals are likely to complain of fever, night sweats, loss of appetite, weight loss, and fatigue. In its reactivated phase, TB may be signaled by a cough with discolored sputum production and sometimes pain in the chest.