What is tuberculosis?

What are the chances that you'll be infected with Tuberculosis if you shared car for 4 hours with TB patient?

• john is an american who works in south sudan on a programm of community health, he visited certain village came a cross bed ridden man far away from capital Juba. So he decided to take him to hospital but he was worried of whether he was infected with what he suspected to be tuberculosis He shared the car for 4 hours with a man. the man had difficulty breathing, persistent productive cough with blood stained sputum and excessive mucus production. the man received 8 injections of streptomycin and benthylpenicilline. Unknown history of diabetes melllitus or hypertension, Unknown surgical history The man had long history of smoking and alcoholism Man was married with three health children The man was conscious, alert, orientated but weak, was not having anaemia, jaundice, or cyanosis but he was febrile So his question was, what are the chances that he was infected with tuberculosis if the man really happened to be a TB patient?

• Answer:

  The odds of the bacteria coming into contact with his body are 100%, odds of infection aren't very bad, but whether or not it ever becomes active is the most important question.. If he leads a healthy life with plenty of nutrition, exercise, and hygiene he can severely reduce the likelihood of it ever becoming active. I think ballpark a third of the world has latent TB, most people never show symptoms of it at all, usually it becomes active during times when the immune system has been weakened or suppressed.. Like if the person is a diabetic or if they have HIV or were out in the rain, something along those lines, even if it did become active it will typically go back into latent if your body is strong enough for it. Maybe it's important for his work that he isn't a carrier, if that's the case he should definitely get scoped out by a doctor.. But if he's just worried about getting sick or spreading it, if he lives a relatively healthy life it should -never- become a problem, which leads me to a more simplistic solution than avoiding fast food and walking in the rain.. http://healthmad.com/nutrition/vitamin-d-7/ The above is the most effective preventative measure, and cure for TB, it's been used for hundreds of years successfully, if he starts supplementing or getting other sources right now the bacteria won't stand a chance.. Hope I've helped you some, read carefully for information regarding the treatment method and best of wishes.