Definition

1. Noun:
   • A serious infectious disease: Tuberculosis is a disease caused by bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) that primarily affects the lungs but can spread to other parts of the body. It is characterized by symptoms like fever, weight loss, and the formation of small lesions called tubercles.

Usage

• Tuberculosis is a communicable disease spread through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
• The word is typically used in medical, public health, and general contexts to refer to the specific disease. It is often abbreviated as TB.

Examples

• Noun:
  • The World Health Organization has a global strategy to eliminate tuberculosis.
  • Before antibiotics, tuberculosis was a leading cause of death worldwide.
  • A positive skin test can indicate exposure to the tuberculosis bacteria.

Advanced Usage

• "Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB)": A form of tuberculosis that does not respond to the standard, most effective drugs.
  • Treating multidrug-resistant tuberculosis is more complex and expensive.
• "Latent tuberculosis infection": A state where the bacteria are present in the body but are inactive and cause no symptoms.
  • People with latent tuberculosis infection are not contagious but may develop the active disease later.

Variants and Related Words

• Tubercular (adj): Relating to or affected with tuberculosis.
  • He was treated in a tubercular sanatorium.
• Tuberculous (adj): Another adjective form meaning of, relating to, or affected with tuberculosis.
  • The biopsy confirmed a tuberculous lesion.

Synonyms

• TB: The common abbreviation.
• Consumption: An old-fashioned term for tuberculosis, referring to how the disease seemed to "consume" the body.
• Phthisis: A technical, chiefly historical term for pulmonary tuberculosis.

Related Phrases and Idioms

• "To have a touch of consumption": An archaic idiom meaning to have tuberculosis.
  • In 19th-century novels, characters often retreated to the mountains if they had a touch of consumption.
• "White plague": A historical name for tuberculosis.
  • The "white plague" was a major public health crisis in the 1800s.

Noun

1. infection transmitted by inhalation or ingestion of tubercle bacilli and manifested in fever and small lesions (usually in the lungs but in various other parts of the body in acute stages)