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What Are the Symptoms?

You will generally have no symptoms if you are infected with TB. In fact, you may not even be aware that you have the disease until it is revealed through a skin test, perhaps during a routine checkup. The Mantoux skin test — performed in a doctor's office or health department — is the most reliable detector of TB. A small amount of liquid material is injected just under the top layer of your skin on your arm. After two to three days, a doctor or nurse will read the test to see if it's positive — a hard, red welt at the injection site of five to 15 millimeters, depending on your risk factors for developing active TB. A positive test means that you have been infected with TB at some point, though not necessarily in its active form. An X-ray of your lungs will help reveal if the disease is active.

If you are concerned that you have active TB, look for these symptoms:

• Sensation of not feeling well
• Cough, at first with yellow or green mucus and occasionally bloody later in the disease.
• Fatigue
• Shortness of breath
• Weight loss
• Slight fever, night sweats
• Pain in the chest, back, or kidneys, and perhaps all three

Call Your Doctor If:

• You have any of the symptoms listed for TB, especially if you live in crowded conditions, are malnourished, or have HIV. (Note: Virtually all of the symptoms of tuberculosis can be confused with those of other diseases; bloody mucus, for example, can also be symptom of pneumonia.)
• You have been exposed to someone with active tuberculosis.