Tuberculosis

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the out only a few bacilli (the TB bacteria) particles when they exhale. The transmission of the bacteria from person to person, usually only occurs after a few months of exposure to someone with this active form. Inadequate ventilation is the most common cause for the transmission of tuberculosis. The bacteria can usually not be spread by personal items such as clothing, bedding, and objects. The reason for this is that the same bacilli that the carrier expels in the air most often die when they hit dry surfaces.
If a person is to breath in infected air, the bacilli travel into the lungs via the bronchioles. Located at the end of these bronchioles are alveoli. Alveoli are bubble like sacs, and this is where the exchange is made by blood from oxygen rich air to carbon dioxide filled air. The tuberculosis bacteria work by infecting these alveoli sacs.
The immune system is equipped with specific blood cells that can identify and fight off foreign invaders such as bacteria and viruses. These specific cells are white blood cells called macrophages. The tuberculosis bacteria are equipped with a cell wall made of a waxy material, and this wall protects some of the bacteria from being killed by the macrophages. The immune system has specific cells that surround and separate the in...