Tuberculosis (TB) in Spanish

What it means

Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial disease that usually attacks the lungs, though it can also attack other parts of the body, including the kidneys, spine, and brain. It is caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which spread from person to person through the air when someone with TB disease in the throat or lungs coughs, sneezes, talks, or sings. Not everyone infected becomes sick, so MedlinePlus describes two conditions: inactive (latent) TB infection, where the germs live in the body without making the person sick, and TB disease (active TB). Symptoms of TB disease in the lungs may include a cough that lasts longer than 3 weeks, coughing up blood or sputum, and chest pain. To find out whether TB germs are in the body, a person is given either a TB skin or blood test.

Spanish term: Tuberculosis (TB)
Gender and article: feminine: la tuberculosis
Pronunciation: too-behr-koo-LOH-sees

Other Spanish terms	Where it is used	Note
TB	General	The abbreviation MedlinePlus en español lists under 'Otros nombres' and uses in its own text.

Tuberculosis is written the same way on the Spanish and English MedlinePlus pages, and both give the same abbreviation, TB, as the other name. The Real Academia Española dictionary marks the word as feminine (la tuberculosis) and defines it as an infectious, contagious disease of humans and other animal species produced by el bacilo de Koch. The same dictionary gives tisis as a synonym, but its entry for tisis defines that word as tuberculosis of the lungs (tuberculosis pulmonar), which is narrower than the headword.

MedlinePlus en español separates infección de TB latente (inactiva), in which the germs live in the body without making the person sick, from enfermedad de tuberculosis (TB activa). Words it uses alongside the term are gérmenes (germs), esputo (sputum, which it describes as thick mucus from the lungs), sudores nocturnos (night sweats), radiografías del tórax (chest x-rays) and análisis de sangre o de piel (blood or skin test). For drug-resistant TB it writes tuberculosis resistente a los medicamentos.

Phrases for an appointment

What a patient or a clinician might say, in English and Spanish:

Who	English	Spanish
Clinician	How long have you had this cough?	¿Desde hace cuánto tiene esta tos?
Patient	More than three weeks, and I have night sweats.	Más de tres semanas, y tengo sudores nocturnos.
Clinician	Have you been near anyone who has tuberculosis?	¿Ha estado cerca de alguien que tenga tuberculosis?
Patient	Someone I live with was treated for tuberculosis last year.	Una persona con la que vivo recibió tratamiento para la tuberculosis el año pasado.
Clinician	I am going to order a blood test for tuberculosis and a chest x-ray.	Voy a pedirle un análisis de sangre para detectar la tuberculosis y una radiografía del tórax.
Patient	What does it mean to have a latent tuberculosis infection?	¿Qué significa tener una infección de tuberculosis latente?
Clinician	It means the germs live in the body but do not make the person sick.	Significa que los gérmenes viven en el cuerpo pero no enferman a la persona.
Patient	Do the people I live with need to be tested too?	¿Las personas con las que vivo también tienen que hacerse la prueba?

In 9 languages

Language	Term
English	Tuberculosis (TB)
Spanish (Español)	Tuberculosis (TB)
Chinese (中文)	結核病
Korean (한국어)	결핵
Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt)	Lao phổi
Filipino (Tagalog)	Tuberkulosis (TB)
Portuguese (Português)	Tuberculose (TB)
Thai (ภาษาไทย)	วัณโรค
Japanese (日本語)	結核

Where you'll see it

chartmedical recordreferralprescription

Related ICD-10-CM category

ICD-10-CM code: A15 → Respiratory tuberculosis

Related terms

Your right to an interpreter in the United States

If English is not your primary language and you have difficulty communicating in English, you may need an interpreter or a translated document when you visit a doctor or dentist, go to the emergency room or pick up a prescription. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights states that two federal laws, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, require programs that receive its funding to provide language access services free of charge.

You can ask when you make the appointment or at the front desk: "I need an interpreter, please." «Necesito un intérprete, por favor.»

More terms: Lungs and breathing

All terms in this area: Lungs and breathing — Pulmones y respiración

Sources

This page is a language reference. It is not medical advice.