Tuberculosis has plagued human beings for millennia. Signs of tubercular damage have been found in Egyptian mummies and in bones dating back at least 5,000 years. Today, despite advances in treatment, TB is a global pandemic, fuelled by the spread of HIV/AIDS, poverty, a lack of health services and the emergence of drug-resistant strains of the bacterium that causes the disease. It spreads through airborne droplets when a person with the infection coughs, talks or sneezes. In general, you need prolonged exposure to an infected person before becoming infected yourself.

Tuberculosis may take place anywhere in the body but, more usually, it affects the lungs, intestines, bones, and glands. Pulmonary tuberculosis (tuberculosis of the lungs) is by far the most ordinary type of tuberculosis. It has a tendency to consume the body and the patient loses force, color, and weight. Temperature rise, persistent cough, breathing troubles and body pain: Other symptoms are a rise in temperature, particularly in the evening, a constant cough and hoarseness, obscurity in breathing, pain in the shoulders, heartburn, chest pain, and blood in the sputum.