Thursday, February 4, 2010

Does anyone know if tuberculosis can be genetically inherited, say from a parent to a child

Does anyone know if tuberculosis can be genetically inherited, say from a parent to a child?
My dad has two spots on his lungs and was told by one of his doctors that since his mother died from TB and his brother had a mild case that he could have it also. We're waiting for his biopsy results. I thought TB was contagious through airborne only.
Respiratory Diseases - 6 Answers
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1 :
TB cannot be genetically inherited. The best explanation I could give for the worry is that the bacteria that cause the disease can lay latent in the lungs for a long period of time, and can be spread to others in this time. So your uncle may have caught it when he was younger, and if your father has it, so may he. I remember my dad had TB when he was a teenager, and he's old (so it had been over 40 years), and my mom and I had to get tested for it.
2 :
Tuberculosis cannot be inherited. It is caused by the gram-positive acid-fast bacilli Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It is a bacterial infection, not a genetic disease. You can, however, be genetically predisposed to developing tuberculosis, but you cannot inherit the disease itself. Your genes make you more or less susceptible to it, but do not cause it.
3 :
YES!
4 :
I believe you be correct but it is logical for the doc to deduct that if family members also had the "disease" that your dad also frequented the locations ( home, etc ) and was in reasonable close contact with other sufferers ( such as the other family members ) when they might have simply passed it on during one of these encounters, not being an expert but I do know that TB can sit quite a while before it becomes apparent especially in an otherwise healthy adult, elderly and childeren be more prone if I rember correctly when I woz being screened myself for TB when off in them foreign lands, therefore he could possibly have "inhereted" it from family but airbourn not by genes. Hope your da be OK !!
5 :
He's probably had inactive TB for a long time. Like me. I'm inactive. It just means that when I have a TB test it's positive. I have been exposed to the live bacterium. It can remain inactive forever. I may never in my lifetime go active. Do you know if your Dad ever had the skin test done after his mother died and after his brother recovered? I used to know the statistics but I've forgotten. It's a really small percentage of us who go active. Your Dad wasn't so lucky. Neither was my mother. She was inactive until her breast cancer and then poof, she had both. I'm really sorry. Google inactive TB for more information. Good luck with the biopsy! All of my prayers, T
6 :
It cannot be inherited. It is contagious but can be treated. The disease is caused by Mycobacterium tuberulosis or Tubercle bacilli (TB). TB is an aerobic microorganism which means it can live in air, it can enter your lungs and eventually when your immune system is weak it can cause you TB. A TB patient has to be isolated from the rest of the family to avoid spreading of the disease from one family member to another. Treatment should be taken religiously for 6 months to avoid recurrence of the disease. Good luck

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