Can Tuberculosis Kill You?

Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by germs that are spread from person to person through the air. TB usually affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body, such as the brain, the kidneys, or the spine. A person with TB can die if they do not get treatment.

How long does tuberculosis take to kill you?

TB is not easily spread and typically involves weeks of indoor contact with a person who is infected with TB. Left untreated,TB can kill approximately one half of patients within five years and produce significant morbidity (illness) in others.

How long can you live with tuberculosis?

Current models of untreated tuberculosis that assume a total duration of 2 years until self-cure or death underestimate the duration of disease by about one year, but their case fatality estimates of 70% for smear-positive and 20% for culture-positive smear-negative tuberculosis appear to be satisfactory.