The 2 obstacles to tuberculosis are host immune response and chemotherapy. Tuberculosis is also unique in that re-infection is possible, therefore chemotherapy is not very effective and developing vaccinations is difficult. Upon exposure, measles has an incubation period of 2 weeks and an infectious period of 1 week. Quarantines to combat measles epidemics could be effective because of the well-defined infectious period. Measles is mono-directional.
Tuberculosis is different in that the timing is very different.
After exposure, the infectious period could range from a few weeks to a few months to years. Host immune response does not eliminate the pathogen. TB replicates in the lungs. Pulmonary damage is a requisite for infectious quality. There is a case of a patient who had infectious TB for 41 years.