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. Patients may also cough up blood. Tuberculosis is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and as such is treated with daily oral doses of antibiotics for at least nine months.