Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) bacteria.[1] Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but can also affect other parts of the body.[1] Most infections show no symptoms, in which case it is known as latent tuberculosis.[1] About 10% of latent infections progress to active disease which, if left untreated, kills about half of those affected.[1] Typical symptoms of active TB are a chronic cough with blood-containing mucus, fever, night sweats, and weight loss.[1] It was historically called consumption due to the weight loss.[8] Infection of other organs can cause a wide range of symptoms.[9]
TuberculosisOther namesPhthisis, phthisis pulmonalis, consumption, great white plagueChest X-ray of a person with advanced tuberculosis: Infection in both lungs is marked by white arrow-heads, and the formation of a cavity is marked by black arrows.SpecialtyInfectious disease, pulmonologySymptomsChronic cough, fever, cough with bloody mucus, weight loss[1]CausesMycobacterium tuberculosis[1]Risk factorsSmoking, HIV/AIDS[1]Diagnostic methodCXR, culture, tuberculin skin test[1]Differential diagnosisPneumonia, histoplasmosis, sarcoidosis, coccidioidomycosis[2]PreventionScreening those at high risk, treatment of those infected, vaccination with bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)[3][4][5]TreatmentAntibiotics[1]Frequency25% of people (latent TB)[6]Deaths1.5 million (2018)[7]

Depiction of a person with tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis is spread from one person to the next through the air when people who have active TB in their lungs cough, spit, speak, or sneeze.[1][10] People with latent TB do not spread the disease.[1] Active infection occurs more often in people with HIV/AIDS and in those who smoke.[1] Diagnosis of active TB is based on chest X-rays, as well as microscopic examination and culture of body fluids.[11] Diagnosis of latent TB relies on the tuberculin skin test (TST) or blood tests.[11]
Prevention of TB involves screening those at high risk, early detection and treatment of cases, and vaccination with the bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine.[3][4][5] Those at high risk include household, workplace, and social contacts of people with active TB.[4] Treatment requires the use of multiple antibiotics over a long period of time.[1] Antibiotic resistance is a growing problem with increasing rates of multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).[1]
As of 2018, one quarter of the world's population was thought to have latent infection with TB.[6] New infections occur in about 1% of the population each year.[12] In 2018, there were more than 10 million cases of active TB, resulting in 1.5 million deaths[7] and making it the number one cause of death from an infectious disease at that time.[13] As of 2018, most TB cases occurred in the regions of South-East Asia (44%), Africa (24%) and the Western Pacific (18%), with more than 50% of cases being diagnosed in eight countries: India (27%), China (9%), Indonesia (8%), the Philippines (6%), Pakistan (6%), Nigeria (4%) and Bangladesh (4%).[13] The number of new cases each year has decreased since 2000.[1] About 80% of people in many Asian and African countries test positive while 5–10% of people in the United States population test positive by the tuberculin test.[14] Tuberculosis has been present in humans since ancient times.[15]
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