How soon do symptoms of tuberculosis(TB) appear

Condition analysis:
Symptoms may occur as early as several weeks after infection, or it could take many years before a person would develop TB disease. The period of time for greatest risk of developing TB disease is within the first two years after infection.

Instructions:
How can my doctor check for tuberculosis? The most commonly used method to check for tuberculosis is the PPD skin test. A PPD skin test is also called a Mantoux test. If you have a positive PPD, it means you have been exposed to a person who has tuberculosis and you have been infected with the bacteria that cause the disease.

If your PPD skin test is positive, you will likely have a chest X-ray and a physical exam to find out whether you have active TB and are currently contagious and able to spread the disease to other people.

It usually takes only a few days to tell whether you’re contagious. Most people with a positive skin test are not contagious.