What is tuberculosis

You run the risk of tuberculosis:

• if you have intensive contact with a contagious patient;
• if you travel to a country where TBC is widespread.

You can take measures to avoid tuberculosis.

You can become infected with TBC if you have intensive contact with a person who has open TBC. Contamination takes place via respiration. A TBC patient who coughs or sneezes vigorously breathes out many bacteria. About 10% of people who are infected with the TBC bacterium become ill.

The most common complaints in the early stage of the disease are tiredness, listlessness, loss of weight, low-grade fever and night sweats. People with lung tuberculosis cough persistently, sometimes even coughing up blood. In general, treatment for TBC patients is successful in our country. Patients who are not treated, or not properly, can die of the disease. This is why discovering the disease quickly is important.

Do you recognise these complaints? If you do, you should contact your GP. If your GP establishes that you do indeed have tuberculosis, he/she will refer you to the Public Health Service or a lung specialist for treatment

Public Health Service tries to prevent tuberculosis from spreading by:

• treating infected persons;
• conducting research on the course of an infection and looking for infected contacts;
• vaccinating travellers and migrants’ children.