Is bone tuberculosis contagious?

Diseases such as bone tuberculosis are actually secondary to pulmonary tuberculosis. However, patients who suffer from such diseases generally do not have a history of pulmonary tuberculosis and are suffering from latent tuberculosis infection. But is this bone tuberculosis contagious? We must know that in most cases, tuberculosis bacteria first appear in one's lungs. If such a disease is not treated in time, the consequences will be disastrous.

Is bone tuberculosis contagious? Actually, medically speaking, bone tuberculosis is not contagious. Diseases like bone tuberculosis generally belong to extrapulmonary tuberculosis, and the bacteria will not be excreted from the body. Therefore, such diseases are not contagious. The infectious type of tuberculosis belongs to active positive pulmonary tuberculosis, and bone tuberculosis is not included.

Bone tuberculosis is mostly secondary to pulmonary tuberculosis, but there are also patients who have no history of pulmonary tuberculosis and are occultly infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis bacteria mostly occur first in the lungs. After infecting the lungs, they can spread through the blood to many systems throughout the body, causing tuberculosis of the skeletal system, urinary system, digestive system, etc. Therefore, bone tuberculosis is a local manifestation of a systemic disease. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that bone tuberculosis is caused by deficiency of vital energy, injury to tendons and bones, accumulation of blood stasis that turns into phlegm and flows into bones and joints.

Modern medicine believes that bone and joint tuberculosis is a secondary lesion, with more than 90% of its primary lesions in the lungs and periosteum, and a few are secondary to gastrointestinal or lymph node tuberculosis. When Mycobacterium tuberculosis invades bones and joints, the local pathological changes caused are similar to tuberculosis lesions in other parts of the body and are divided into three stages: exudative stage, proliferative stage, and caseous stage. Subsequently, depending on whether treatment is given or not, the lesions may shrink and heal or develop and expand.

When we get bone tuberculosis, many people are concerned about whether it is contagious. In fact, we know that bone tuberculosis is not contagious. But we must remember that when we get this bone tuberculosis disease, we still need to seek treatment as soon as possible. Only then can we heal our physical illness as soon as possible.