What is tuberculosis

You are at risk of tuberculosis:

• if you have intensive contact with someone with open TB.
• if you travel to a country where TB is widespread.

You can become infected with TB if you have intensive contact with a person who has open TB.  A TB patient who coughs or sneezes vigorously breathes out many bacteria. About 10% of people who are infected with the TB 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 TB 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 GGD or a lung specialist for treatment

The GGD prevents 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.