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HOW TUBERCULOSIS SPREADS The bacilli enter the lungs and lodge themselves in the lung tissue. They grow and multiply and the area of infection gets larger. The tissue cells die and the whole area becomes soft. These soft tissues liquefy, get coughed up, leaving a hole, or cavity, in the lungs. |
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***JUST SO YOU KNOW...
The phrase 'tuberculosis bacilli' is basically the shortest form of the proper scientific term for TB, Mycobacterium. |
Tuberculosis is one of the oldest diseases. It was known as consumption or the 'great white plague'. It was also one of the leading causes of death until antituberculosis drugs were introduced in the mid-1940's. |