Coronavirus could attack immune system like HIV by targeting protective cells, warn scientists

[du_grad]

45. TB is caused by a bacteria

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the bacteria that causes TB. It is NOT a virus. It is part of the bacteria labelled "acid fast" because of the cell wall properties and the special staining methods necessary in order to see it on a slide.

M. tb walls itself off inside the lung sometimes instead of causing an active case of tuberculosis. This walling off can cause a tuberculin/PPD skin test to become positive, even though you do not have active disease. If one has a positive tuberculin/PPD test the next step is to get a chest xray to determine if you have active disease. If there are no lesions on the lung, then the patient must take a course of INH (antibiotic that works against M. tb) for at least six months.

I know about this because this happened to me in the lab in 1999. We had cultures on a patient that was positive for M. tuberculosis. We had a lab incident where three of us converted to PPD positive. None of us had active disease. I had to go on INH (isoniazid) for six months and see an infectious disease doctor to get checked out.

Please don't mix up bacterial diseases with viral diseases.

I am a retired clinical microbiologist.