Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, or TB, is an infectious bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly affects the lungs. It is transmitted from person to person via droplets from the throat and lungs of people with the active respiratory disease.

In healthy people, infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis often causes no symptoms, since the person's immune system acts to “wall off” the bacteria. The symptoms of active TB of the lung are coughing, sometimes with sputum or blood, chest pains, weakness, weight loss, fever and night sweats. Tuberculosis is treatable with a six-month course of antibiotics.

General information

• Tuberculosis Fact Sheet
  pdf, 81kb

• WHO work on tuberculosis in the Philippines

Latest news and press releases

• WHO, PBSP Team Up For Healthy CHANGE in Workplaces
  1 December 2012

Publications and documents

• The Global Plan to Stop TB (2011-2015)

Global TB control report (2011)

• Global TB Report, 2012
  pdf, 3.76Mb

• Regional strategy to stop TB in the Western Pacific Region (2011-2015)
  pdf, 2.92Mb