The standard treatment recommended by the WHO is with isoniazid and rifampicin for six months, as well as ethambutol and pyrazinamide for the first two months. If there is evidence of meningitis, then treatment is extended to twelve months. The U.S. guidelines recommend nine months' treatment. "Common medication side effects a patient may have such as inflammation of the liver if a patient is taking pyrazinamide, rifampin, and isoniazid. A patient may also have drug resistance to medication, relapse, respiratory failure, and adult respiratory distress syndrome."

Treatment of TB uses antibiotics to kill the bacteria. Effective TB treatment is difficult, due to the unusual structure and chemical composition of the mycobacterial cell wall, which hinders the entry of drugs and makes many antibiotics ineffective. The two antibiotics most commonly used are isoniazid and rifampicin, and treatments can be prolonged, taking several months. Latent TB treatment usually employs a single antibiotic, while active TB disease is best treated with combinations of several antibiotics to reduce the risk of the bacteria developing antibiotic resistance. People with latent infections are also treated to prevent them from progressing to active TB disease later in life. Directly observed therapy, i.e., having a health care provider watch the person take their medications, is recommended by the WHO in an effort to reduce the number of people not appropriately taking antibiotics. The evidence to support this practice over people simply taking their medications independently is of poor quality. There is no strong evidence indicating that directly observed therapy improves the number of people who were cured or the number of people who complete their medicine. Moderate quality evidence suggests that there is also no difference if people are observed at home versus at a clinic, or by a family member versus a health care worker. Methods to remind people of the importance of treatment and appointments may result in a small but important improvement.

The only available vaccine as of 2011 is Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG). In children it decreases the risk of getting the infection by 20% and the risk of infection turning into disease by nearly 60%.

It is the most widely used vaccine worldwide, with more than 90% of all children being vaccinated. The immunity it induces decreases after about ten years. As tuberculosis is uncommon in most of Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States, BCG is administered to only those people at high risk. Part of the reasoning against the use of the vaccine is that it makes the tuberculin skin test falsely positive, reducing the test's use in screening. A number of new vaccines are currently in development.

If left untreated, miliary tuberculosis is almost always fatal. Although most cases of miliary tuberculosis are treatable, the mortality rate among children with miliary tuberculosis remains 15 to 20% and for adults 25 to 30%. One of the main causes for these high mortality rates includes late detection of disease caused by non-specific symptoms. Non-specific symptoms include: coughing, weight loss, or organ dysfunction. These symptoms may be implicated in numerous disorders, thus delaying diagnosis. Misdiagnosis with tuberculosis meningitis is also a common occurrence when patients are tested for tuberculosis, since the two forms of tuberculosis have high rates of co-occurrence.

A study conducted on 452 patients revealed that the genotype responsible for higher IL-10 expression makes HIV infected people more susceptible to tuberculosis infection. Another study on HIV-TB co-infected patients also concluded that higher level of IL-10 and IL-22 makes TB patient more susceptible to Immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS). It is also seen that HIV co-infection with tuberculosis also reduces concentration of immunopathogenic matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs) leading to reduced inflammatory immunopathology.

When HIV-negative children take isoniazid after they have been exposed to tuberculosis, their risk to contract tuberculosis is reduced. A Cochrane review investigated whether giving isoniazid to HIV-positive children can help to prevent this vulnerable group from getting tuberculosis. They included three trials conducted in South Africa and Botswana and found that isoniazid given to all children diagnosed with HIV may reduce the risk of active tuberculosis and death in children who are not on antiretroviral treatment. For children taking antiretroviral medication, no clear benefit was detected.

XDR-TB is defined as TB that has developed resistance to at least rifampicin and isoniazid (resistance to these first line anti-TB drugs defines Multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis, or MDR-TB), as well as to any member of the quinolone family and at least one of the following second-line anti-TB injectable drugs: kanamycin, capreomycin, or amikacin. This definition of XDR-TB was agreed by the WHO Global Task Force on XDR-TB in October 2006. The earlier definition of XDR-TB as MDR-TB that is also resistant to three or more of the six classes of second-line drugs, is no longer used, but may be referred to in older publications.

The BCG vaccine prevents severe forms of TB in children, such as TB meningitis. It would be expected that BCG would have the same effect in preventing severe forms of TB in children, even if they were exposed to XDR-TB. The vaccine has shown to be less effective at preventing the most common strains of TB and in blocking TB in adults. The effect of BCG against XDR-TB would therefore likely be very limited. New vaccines are urgently needed, and WHO and members of the Stop TB Partnership are actively working on new vaccines.

People with AIDS are given macrolide antibiotics such as azithromycin for prophylactic treatment.

People with HIV infection and less than 50 CD4+ T-lymphocytes/uL should be administered prophylaxis against MAC. Prophylaxis should be continued for the patient's lifetime unless multiple drug therapy for MAC becomes necessary because of the development of MAC disease.

Clinicians must weigh the potential benefits of MAC prophylaxis against the potential for toxicities and drug interactions, the cost, the potential to produce resistance in a community with a high rate of tuberculosis, and the possibility that the addition of another drug to the medical regimen may adversely affect patients' compliance with treatment. Because of these concerns, therefore, in some situations rifabutin prophylaxis should not be administered.

Before prophylaxis is administered, patients should be assessed to ensure that they do not have active disease due to MAC, M. tuberculosis, or any other mycobacterial species. This assessment may include a chest radiograph and tuberculin skin test.

Rifabutin, by mouth daily, is recommended for the people's lifetime unless disseminated MAC develops, which would then require multiple drug therapy. Although other drugs, such as azithromycin and clarithromycin, have laboratory and clinical activity against MAC, none has been shown in a prospective, controlled trial to be effective and safe for prophylaxis. Thus, in the absence of data, no other regimen can be recommended at this time.The 300-mg dose of rifabutin has been well tolerated. Adverse effects included neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, rash, and gastrointestinal disturbances.

Postinfection treatment involves a combination of antituberculosis antibiotics, including rifampicin, rifabutin, ciprofloxacin, amikacin, ethambutol, streptomycin, clarithromycin or azithromycin.

NTM infections are usually treated with a three-drug regimen of either clarithromycin or azithromycin, plus rifampicin and ethambutol. Treatment typically lasts at least 12 months.

Although studies have not yet identified an optimal regimen or confirmed that any therapeutic regimen produces sustained clinical benefit for patients with disseminated MAC, the Task Force concluded that the available information indicated the need for treatment of disseminated MAC. The Public Health Service therefore recommends that regimens be based on the following principles:

- Treatment regimens outside a clinical trial should include at least two agents.

- Every regimen should contain either azithromycin or clarithromycin; many experts prefer ethambutol as a second drug. Many clinicians have added one or more of the following as second, third, or fourth agents: clofazimine, rifabutin, rifampin, ciprofloxacin, and in some situations amikacin. Isoniazid and pyrazinamide are not effective for the therapy of MAC.

- Therapy should continue for the lifetime of the patient if clinical and microbiologic improvement is observed.

Clinical manifestations of disseminated MAC—such as fever, weight loss, and night sweats—should be monitored several times during the initial weeks of therapy. Microbiologic response, as assessed by blood culture every 4 weeks during initial therapy, can also be helpful in interpreting the efficacy of a therapeutic regimen.Most patients who ultimately respond show substantial clinical improvement in the first 4–6 weeks of therapy. Elimination of the organisms from blood cultures may take somewhat longer, often requiring 4–12 weeks.

Tuberculoma is commonly treated through the HRZE drug combination (Isoniazid, Rifampin, Pyrazinamide, Ethambutol) followed by maintenance therapy.

There are several ways that drug resistance to TB, and drug resistance in general, can be prevented:

1. Rapid diagnosis & treatment of TB: One of the greatest risk factors for drug resistant TB is problems in treatment and diagnosis, especially in developing countries. If TB is identified and treated soon, drug resistance can be avoided.

2. Completion of treatment: Previous treatment of TB is an indicator of MDR TB. If the patient does not complete his/her antibiotic treatment, or if the physician does not prescribe the proper antibiotic regimen, resistance can develop. Also, drugs that are of poor quality or less in quantity, especially in developing countries, contribute to MDR TB.

3. Patients with HIV/AIDS should be identified and diagnosed as soon as possible. They lack the immunity to fight the TB infection and are at great risk of developing drug resistance.

4. Identify contacts who could have contracted TB: i.e. family members, people in close contact, etc.

5. Research: Much research and funding is needed in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of TB and MDR TB.

"Opponents of a universal tuberculosis treatment, reasoning from misguided notions of cost-effectiveness, fail to acknowledge that MDRTB is not a disease of poor people in distant places. The disease is infectious and airborne. Treating only one group of patients looks inexpensive in the short run, but will prove disastrous for all in the long run."- Paul Farmer

Urogenital tuberculosis may cause strictures of the ureter, which, however, may heal when infection is treated.

Treatment depends on the underlying cause of the pleural effusion.

Therapeutic aspiration may be sufficient; larger effusions may require insertion of an intercostal drain (either pigtail or surgical). When managing these chest tubes, it is important to make sure the chest tubes do not become occluded or clogged. A clogged chest tube in the setting of continued production of fluid will result in residual fluid left behind when the chest tube is removed. This fluid can lead to complications such as hypoxia due to lung collapse from the fluid, or fibrothorax if scarring occurs. Repeated effusions may require chemical (talc, bleomycin, tetracycline/doxycycline), or surgical pleurodesis, in which the two pleural surfaces are scarred to each other so that no fluid can accumulate between them. This is a surgical procedure that involves inserting a chest tube, then either mechanically abrading the pleura or inserting the chemicals to induce a scar. This requires the chest tube to stay in until the fluid drainage stops. This can take days to weeks and can require prolonged hospitalizations. If the chest tube becomes clogged, fluid will be left behind and the pleurodesis will fail.

Pleurodesis fails in as many as 30% of cases. An alternative is to place a PleurX Pleural Catheter or Aspira Drainage Catheter. This is a 15Fr chest tube with a one-way valve. Each day the patient or care givers connect it to a simple vacuum tube and remove from 600 to 1000 mL of fluid, and can be repeated daily. When not in use, the tube is capped. This allows patients to be outside the hospital. For patients with malignant pleural effusions, it allows them to continue chemotherapy, if indicated. Generally, the tube is in for about 30 days and then it is removed when the space undergoes a spontaneous pleurodesis.

It usually strikes young adults with tuberculosis in other places of the body as well. It is common in Asia, but less common in sub-Saharan Africa.

Tuberculous pericarditis is a form of pericarditis.

Pericarditis caused by tuberculosis is difficult to diagnose, because definitive diagnosis requires culturing "Mycobacterium tuberculosis" from aspirated pericardial fluid or pericardial , which requires high technical skill and is often not diagnostic (the yield from culture is low even with optimum specimens). The Tygerberg scoring system helps the clinician to decide whether pericarditis is due to tuberculosis or whether it is due to another cause: night sweats (1 point), weight loss (1 point), fever (2 point), serum globulin > 40g/l (3 points), blood total leucocyte count <10 x 10/l (3 points); a total score of 6 or more is highly suggestive of tuberculous pericarditis. Pericardial fluid with an interferon-γ level greater than 50/ml is highly specific for tuberculous pericarditis.

There are no randomized trials which evaluate the length of anti-tuberculosis treatment required for tuberculous pericarditis. There is a small but not conclusive benefit for treatment with a schedule of steroids with anti-tuberculosis drugs. Open surgical drainage of fluid though effective in preventing cardiac tamponade was associated with more deaths.

MDR-TB can become resistant to the major second-line TB drug groups: fluoroquinolones (moxifloxacin, ofloxacin) and injectable aminoglycoside or polypeptide drugs (amikacin, capreomycin, kanamycin). When MDR-TB is resistant to at least one drug from each group, it is classified as extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB).

In a study of MDR-TB patients from 2005 to 2008 in various countries, 43.7% had resistance to at least one second-line drug. About 9% of MDR-TB cases are resistant to a drug from both classes and classified as XDR-TB.

In the past 10 years TB strains have emerged in Italy, Iran, India, and South Africa which are resistant to all available first and second line TB drugs, classified as totally drug-resistant tuberculosis, though there is some controversy over this term. Increasing levels of resistance in TB strains threaten to complicate the current global public health approaches to TB control. New drugs are being developed to treat extensively resistant forms but major improvements in detection, diagnosis, and treatment will be needed.

Treatment depends on the underlying cause. Treatments include iced saline, and topical vasoconstrictors such as adrenalin or vasopressin. Selective bronchial intubation can be used to collapse the lung that is bleeding. Also, endobronchial tamponade can be used. Laser photocoagulation can be used to stop bleeding during bronchoscopy. Angiography of bronchial arteries can be performed to locate the bleeding, and it can often be embolized. Surgical option is usually the last resort, and can involve, removal of a lung lobe or removal of the entire lung. Non–small-cell lung cancer can also be treated with erlotinib or gefitinib. Cough suppressants can increase the risk of choking.

Controlling the spread of tuberculosis infection can prevent tuberculous spondylitis and arthritis. Patients who have a positive PPD test (but not active tuberculosis) may decrease their risk by properly taking medicines to prevent tuberculosis. To effectively treat tuberculosis, it is crucial that patients take their medications exactly as prescribed.

A pleural effusion is excess fluid that accumulates in the pleural cavity, the fluid-filled space that surrounds the lungs. This excess can impair breathing by limiting the expansion of the lungs. Various kinds of pleural effusion, depending on the nature of the fluid and what caused its entry into the pleural space, are hydrothorax (serous fluid), hemothorax (blood), urinothorax (urine), chylothorax (chyle), or pyothorax (pus). A pneumothorax is the accumulation of air in the pleural space, and is commonly called a "collapsed lung."

The ameboma may manifest as a right lower quadrant abdominal mass, which may be mistaken for carcinoma, tuberculosis, Crohn's disease, actinomycosis, or lymphoma.

"TB Bacteria Are Spread Only from a Person with Active TB Disease ... In people who develop active TB of the lungs, also called pulmonary TB, the TB skin test will often be positive. In addition, they will show all the signs and symptoms of TB disease, and can pass the bacteria to others. So, if a person with TB of the lungs sneezes, coughs, talks, sings, or does anything that forces the bacteria into the air, other people nearby may breathe in TB bacteria. Statistics show that approximately one-third of people exposed to pulmonary TB become infected with the bacteria, but only one in ten of these infected people develop active TB disease during their lifetimes."

However, exposure to tuberculosis is very unlikely to happen when one is exposed for a few minutes in a store or in a few minutes social contact. "It usually takes prolonged exposure to someone with active TB disease for someone to become infected.

After exposure, it usually takes 8 to 10 weeks before the TB test would show if someone had become infected." "Depending on ventilation and other factors, these tiny droplets [from the person who has active tuberculosis] can remain suspended in the air for several hours. Should another person inhale them, he or she may become infected with TB. The probability of transmission will be related to the infectiousness of the person with TB, the environment where the exposure occurred, the duration of the exposure, and the susceptibility of the host." In fact, "it isn't easy to catch TB. You need consistent exposure to the contagious person for a long time. For that reason, you're more likely to catch TB from a relative than a stranger."

If a person had latent tuberculosis, they do not have active/contagious tuberculosis. Once exposed, people very often have latent tuberculosis. To convert to active tuberculosis, the bacteria must become active.

People have medical privacy or "confidentiality" and do not have to reveal their active tuberculosis case to family, friends, or co-workers; therefore, the person who gets latent tuberculosis may never know who had the active case of tuberculosis that caused the latent tuberculosis diagnosis for them. Only by required testing (required in some jobs)

Lobar pneumonia is a form of pneumonia that affects a large and continuous area of the lobe of a lung.

It is one of the two anatomic classifications of pneumonia (the other being bronchopneumonia).

Salt restriction is the initial treatment, which allows (production of urine) since the patient now has more fluid than salt concentration. Salt restriction is effective in about 15% of patients. Water restriction is needed if serum sodium levels drop below 130 mmol L.

The 2007 guideline “Official American Thoracic Society (ATS) and Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) statement: diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of non-tuberculosis mycobacterial diseases”, notes that M. fortuitum isolates are usually susceptible to multiple oral antimicrobial agents, including the macrolides and quinolones, doxycycline and minocycline, and sulfonamides. Isolates of this mycobacterium are susceptible to the beta-lactam antibiotics, belonging to the carbopenam subgroup, such as Imipenem. Imipenem is a broad spectrum antibiotic produced by the bacteria Streptomyces cattleya. Ondansetron HCL (Zofran) is an antiemetic often given to offset the nausea and vomiting that are a common side effect of Imipenem. Severe infections require IV treatment combined with oral antibiotics for a prolonged period, up to several months. The guideline recommends “for serious skin, bone, and soft tissue M fortuitum disease, a minimum of 4 months of therapy with at least two agents with in vitro activity against the clinical isolate is necessary to provide a high likelihood of cure. Surgery is generally indicated with extensive disease, abscess formation, or where drug therapy is difficult.”