Health
The Differences Between Latent and Active TB
| Language: | English |
| Country: | USA |
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Tuberculosis (or TB) is a disease that mainly infects the lungs. Symptoms of active TB disease include a chronic bad cough, pain in the chest, or coughing up blood. However, some people who are infected with TB carry the bacteria but do not show these symptoms. They will appear perfectly healthy. This is called latent TB infection. Unlike active TB disease, latent TB infection is not infectious to others. Check with your provider to see if tests for latent TB are locally available and whether getting tested for latent TB is right for you. Together, you and your healthcare provider can beat latent TB infection and prevent active TB disease.