| Myths | Facts |
| TB runs in the family; it is a genetic or hereditary ailment. | TB is a germ, which can attack simply anyone. Heredity or genes play no role. |
| Each and every TB patient spreads disease. | Not all, but about a third of TB patients are infective, mainly people who are still coughing. If the patient doesn’t have a cough, there is no risk of infection. |
| TB patient must at once be sent away – to TB hospital / sanatorium. | Once effective treatment begins, the patient quickly turns germ free (non-infective). So if the patient takes proper treatment and observes precautions while staying at home, s/he poses no additional risk of infection to her/his family members. The concept of a TB sanatorium is a thing of the past. |
| There is no cure for TB; it means sure death | TB is curable. Effective anti-TB medicines have been available since 1950s. Treatment of TB is pretty long. Medicines must be taken for a minimum of 6 to 8 months for complete cure. |
| TB treatment is very expensive. | Treatment of TB is not expensive. |
| TB only occurs in the lungs | TB mostly (80%) occurs in the lungs but can occur anywhere in the human body – from head to toe. When it occurs in organs other than the lungs, it is called extra-pulmonary TB. |
| Exposure to a TB patient leads to infection and infection means sure disease. | Being infected is not synonymous with falling sick with TB. |
| After a couple of months of proper TB treatment, symptoms subside and the patient feels much better. Thereafter, the patient can safely stop anti-TB medicines | Treatment of TB is long. Medicines must be taken for a minimum of 6 to 8 months for complete cure. Otherwise you risk relapse and complications. |
| I am educated and well off. I live in a well-off community. I can never catch TB – a disease of poverty. | Anyone can get TB, but not everyone gets it. Knowledge about TB can help to prevent infection. |
| TB is spread in taxis | TB is not spread through spitting or sharing plates or cutlery. You need to be exposed to TB droplets in the air for eight hours or more to be at risk of contracting the illness – so the idea that TB is easily spread on public transport is a myth. |
