The World Health Organization released information this week stating that tuberculosis is now the top-killing infectious disease in the world, surpassing COVID-19.
San Luis Obispo County Public Health says there have only been five cases of Active Tuberculosis in the county so far this year.
While the numbers are low for Active TB, doctors who say there is another form of it to be aware of — Latent Tuberculosis, or LTBI.
"The bug does get into your lungs," said Dr. Roberts, Med Stop Urgent Care. "You have TB, but your immune system walls it off and your immune system keeps, basically, it hibernates. It doesn't make you sick and you can't give it to other people, but you are infected with LTBI, Latent Tuberculosis. That's the one that's much more common, and the one we really need to make efforts to find those people."
Dr. Roberts says Latent TB can develop into Active TB, and that's when you begin to show symptoms and become contagious.
"Tuberculosis is transmitted from person to person by droplets," said Dr. Vandegna, French Hospital Medical Center. "So coughing, sneezing. So that's how you would get tuberculosis. And the symptoms of TB would be you would develop a cough, sputum productions, fevers, weight loss. It's a slow progressing disease if left untreated is very serious."
Both doctors say the treatment for Active TB is a long process, but if followed strictly, you won't have any lingering impacts.
"It takes like three or four drugs to kill tuberculosis over an extended period, so most treatments of tuberculosis are up to six months," Dr. Vandegna said.
Dr. Roberts says that if you have Latent TB, the treatment is easier and takes less time. If you suspect you could have Latent TB, he recommends getting tested with a skin test or a blood test by your doctor.
"The benefit is not reactivating later. So, we said that more than 85% of the active cases are from LTBI. If you treat LTBI, it becomes extremely unlikely that it will activate," he said.
While around the whole world TB is dangerous, both doctors agree that the likelihood of getting it here are low, and even if you do, there are treatments to kill it.
