sir good day thank you very much for helping me to understand what is PTB and now i have no worries to my wife anymore...thanks for having this kind of website to help us ordinary person to understand with good explanation or answer to health...thanks sir and god bless always
You have an interesting and valid question that can only be answered by your own physician. There are over 16,000 varieties of the bacteria.
At Bath shipyards in the U.S. a single employee infected 257 others in a large industrial complex when he was allegedly non-contagious.
Bear in mind there is no cure for tb. Once infected you have it forever and it can only go into remission. You MUST take every single medication prescribed.
There is no such thing as "minimal ptb".
That being said, with proper medications a person need not be contagious.
However, if the immune system goes down the bacteria will come back and can migrate to every area of the body, including the brain. It is a myth that tb is a lung disease.
The degree of contagion must be determined on a case by case basis after consultation with your pulmonologist.
Her immune system must be kept up with healthy eating, fresh air and daily supplements of vitamin C and D3.