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Need-to-Know Anatomy
Active tuberculosis disease occurs most often in the lungs. The lungs are where your body carries out gas exchange between the air and the bloodstream, exchanging carbon dioxide for fresh oxygen. This exchange takes place at the alveoli, tiny little bubblelike divisions of the lungs. When you breathe, you inhale plenty of other material along with oxygen, including bacteria. In order to infect you, the tuberculosis bacteria have to pass through the defenses in your airway and reach the alveoli.
When the body's immune system notices the bacteria, it surrounds them with immune cells, making blobs known as granulomas and effectively walling them off from the rest of the body. These granulomas are harmless. The bacteria can persist in granulomas for many years as a latent TB infection.
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