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Is Tuberculosis A Contagious Disease?
My father has bone tb. He is undergoing 4 drug regimen now. Can you please advise on the below 1) is it contagious? Does kids or adults need to take any precaution? (E.g.:- sitting or sleeping on same bed for short or long periods of time) 2) he was never diagnosed with pulmonary TB. What could be the reason for bone tb? Just curious 3) sometimes we are taking him outside in open air (assisted walk with around 10-20 meter distance to next bed). Is it advisable? Or strict bed rest is recommended? He is in 1st month of taking medicine 4) the diagnosis was done based on MRI and nuclear scan only. Biopsy was not done. He is showing some improvement after 1 month. Is it recommended to do biopsy to be sure it is tv? Please advise
Wed, 26 Apr 2017
HI there, let me answer your questions one by one:
1) TB is a contagious disease especially pulmonary type TB. It is spread through cough and sputum. As your father is having Bone TB, it is a less contagious disease, but still some precautions can be observed to keep the infection contained, like not coughing or spitting in open, talking with less force while around children.
2)Though he has no symptoms of pulmonary TB, any type of TB has primary focus in lungs, from where the bacteria spread to other organs through blood.
1) TB is a contagious disease especially pulmonary type TB. It is spread through cough and sputum. As your father is having Bone TB, it is a less contagious disease, but still some precautions can be observed to keep the infection contained, like not coughing or spitting in open, talking with less force while around children.
2)Though he has no symptoms of pulmonary TB, any type of TB has primary focus in lungs, from where the bacteria spread to other organs through blood.
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