Medication is the only way of treatment, but treating TB takes much longer than treating other types of bacterial infections.
Tuberculosis is a serious infectious disease that mainly affects your lungs but can be found in other organs of the body. The bacteria that cause tuberculosis are spread from one person to another through tiny droplets released into the air via coughs and sneezes.
This is, worldwide, the third highest incidence of any country after India and China. About 60% of those infected have both HIV and TB infection. In addition, there is now increasing resistance to some of the anti-TB drugs, making TB the leading cause of death in SA. Another reason it remains a major killer is the increase in drug-resistant strains of the bacteria. Since the first antibiotics were used more than 60 years ago, some TB germs have developed the ability to survive and that is passed on to their descendants. Some TB bacteria have developed resistance to the most commonly used treatments, such as Isoniazid and Rifampicin.
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