Risk Factors

You are at risk of tuberculosis infection if you are around people with active TB disease who are coughing, which releases bacteria into the air. The risk of infection increases for intravenous drug users, healthcare workers, and people who live or work in a homeless shelter, migrant farm camp, prison or jail, or nursing home.

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Most people who are infected with the bacteria that cause TB do not develop active disease. The following factors raise the risk that latent disease will develop into active disease:

• infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS and weakens the immune system
• diabetes
• low body weight
• head or neck cancer, leukemia, or Hodgkin's disease
• some medical treatments, including corticosteroids or certain medications used for autoimmune or vasculitic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis or lupus, which suppress the immune system.
•silicosis, a respiratory condition caused by inhaling silica dust.