Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by a bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. TB is a disease that may affect the respiratory system or some other organs such as the nervous system, bones, gastrointestinal system and lymphatic system. As is known, tuberculosis is transmitted from person to person through exposure to infectious secretions from the infected person during sneezing, coughing, speech or singing.

 The most important symptoms of tuberculosis are prolong fever for two weeks or more, cough which is accompanied by occasional blood discharge, night sweats, significant weight loss and lack of appetite, and other symptoms may appear related to the different organs mentioned above that may be affected by the disease.

Ways to prevent TB include:

1. To go to the health institution as soon as you feel any symptoms to speed up the detection and the treatment of the affected person, follow-up contacts and treating those who are infected with active tuberculosis or provide preventive treatment for those with latent tuberculosis. Additionally to emphasis on the need to adhere to the treatment plan, which is, around 6 months of taking drugs for the treatment of TB and may exceed this period based on the infected organ, the patient's response and according to the instructions of the treating physician.

2. Comply with the necessary preventive measures while the patient is in the health institution such as providing the isolation room and wearing N95 mask.

3. Comply with the preventive measures necessary to be performed when the infected person is in the family or in public places such as the hand hygiene and covering mouth during sneezing or coughing.

4. Personal hygiene.

5. Avoid smoking.

6. Do not spit on the floor.

Oman has adopted who's recommendations in developing a national strategy to End TB.

This page aims to provide some TB-related awareness materials in different languages as a source of reliable information.