Question 1

different between pneumonia and tb?

Accepted Answer

See below: Pneumonia causes cough, fever, sometimes shortness of breath and chest pains. Rales are heard on auscultation of the lungs and an infiltrate is seen on chest x-ray.  
Tb is a more chronic illness characterized by cough, night sweats, weight loss, a positive PPD skin test or gamma interferon release test with apical infiltrates on cxr.Sputum smears and cultures are + afb/tb.Tb can cause pneumonia too.

Question 2

has severe pain under left side scapula..was treated of tb and pneumonia and the pain was gone...why will no one look into these meds to treat him?

Accepted Answer

Imaging: Please see your PCP. A follow up chest radiograph may be indicated. Sometimes there is residual inflammation of the lining of the lung. Other causes may be musculoskeletal.

Question 3

my 80 year old step mom has been diagnosed with tb. the family was all together last saturday with her, should we all be tested? she was diagnosed on jan 17 with bronchitis, not getting better went to dr on jan 20 and told she had double pneumonia. jan 25

Accepted Answer

If : If your family has contact with your step mother with no respiratory protection and she has active, untreated tb, you should be evaluated.

Question 4

how do you know the difference in pneumonia and tb on a chest x-ray?

Accepted Answer

Looks different: Pneumonia is a patchy or consolidated infiltrate,  and TB are smaller cavitay lesions or spots in the lung.

Question 5

what does ptb mean? is it possible to have pneumonia and tb at the same time? doctor said to have another x-ray after taking clarithromycin for 7 days

Accepted Answer

Pulmonary TB: Pulmonary tuberculosis is TB in the lung, which could be inactive or active (the treatment is different for each condition). A person can have PTB and still get almost any other disease known to man. Having PTB does not prevent one from getting other diseases.

Question 6

when comparing tuberculosis, pertussis, and pneumonia, why don't we have a good vaccine for tb?

Accepted Answer

Variable immunity: The typical immune response is variable to disease in the TB family. As a result one vaccine is not llikely to produce long term protection. In general it is harder to create vaccines that provide long term immunity for bacteria, we have had more success with virus based disease in terms of successful long term vaccines. That's why as adults we need additional boosters for pertussis.

Question 7

every time i get the flu or more commonly the cold, i develop bacterial pneumonia, with brown mucus that's blood tinged.this has been happening since 2016 after i got the flu.happened 3 times since.i'm a healthy guy.hiv negative, tb negative.

Accepted Answer

See allergist/immuno: Although it is possible to contract bacterial pneumonia after the flu, it is unusual to get it yearly especially at your age.  Consult an allergist-immunologist to get your immune status studied since HIV is not the only thing which causes immune defect.

Question 8

my dad 81yr has fluid in lungs.keeps forming & breathless on oxygen & weak.tests show no cancer.on symptoms being given meds for tb & pneumonia.help?

Accepted Answer

Shortness of breath: Shortness of breath can happen from lung and heart disease, fluid in the lung indicates heart failure and heart disease. He may have associated pneumonia also. He may have some clinical indication to be on anti tuberculosis treatment.  you can call our consult line with all the lab and 
x- ray results to get a better understanding of your fathers condition.

Question 9

recovered from pleural effusion frm pneumonia 12 days ago but still having pleurisy.is it normal?ctscan, xray, cbc, tibc, ana, ferittin, tb shows normal

Accepted Answer

Yes: In general, the pleural (lining of the lungs) may become inflammed or infected with a pneumonia. The fluid that is part of the normal lubrication of the lungs may collect abnormally -- which is called an effusion. Once it is resorbed, residual pain and discomfort may be experienced for several weeks to months after the event.

Question 10

what is the transition from pneumonitis to tb?

Accepted Answer

See below: You are referring to latent TB becoming TB pulmonary infection.  After primary TB infection the organism becomes latent within granulomata in the body.  In 10% of infected persons (5% within 2 years of primary infection) this latent TB reactivates and causes active infection most commonly in the lungs but also in lymph nodes, cns, kidneys, peritoneum, bone etc.  Aging and immunosuppression preceed.

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Doctor answers about:

WHICH IS DANGEROUS PNEUMONIA OR TB

A member asked:

Different between pneumonia and tb?

A member asked:

Has severe pain under left side scapula..was treated of tb and pneumonia and the pain was gone...why will no one look into these meds to treat him?

A member asked:

My 80 year old step mom has been diagnosed with tb. the family was all together last saturday with her, should we all be tested? she was diagnosed on jan 17 with bronchitis, not getting better went to dr on jan 20 and told she had double pneumonia. jan 25

A member asked:

How do you know the difference in pneumonia and tb on a chest x-ray?

A member asked:

What does ptb mean? is it possible to have pneumonia and tb at the same time? doctor said to have another x-ray after taking clarithromycin for 7 days

A member asked:

When comparing tuberculosis, pertussis, and pneumonia, why don't we have a good vaccine for tb?

A member asked:

Every time i get the flu or more commonly the cold, i develop bacterial pneumonia, with brown mucus that's blood tinged.this has been happening since 2016 after i got the flu.happened 3 times since.i'm a healthy guy.hiv negative, tb negative.

A member asked:

My dad 81yr has fluid in lungs.keeps forming & breathless on oxygen & weak.tests show no cancer.on symptoms being given meds for tb & pneumonia.help?

A member asked:

Recovered from pleural effusion frm pneumonia 12 days ago but still having pleurisy.is it normal?ctscan, xray, cbc, tibc, ana, ferittin, tb shows normal

A member asked:

What is the transition from pneumonitis to tb?

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