If a cough or sputum production lasts two weeks or longer, or there is blood in your sputum, get checked for pulmonary TB at a designated TB hospital; if diagnosed, complete the prescribed treatment, even after you feel better

Go to your local designated TB hospital for a chest X-ray and sputum tests; allow about half a day altogether. Some tests and treatments are free at designated hospitals. The exact services covered are decided locally, so you can call your local disease control center before going. If diagnosed, you need to take medicine every day. Ordinary pulmonary TB requires 6 to 8 months of treatment, with follow-up visits as directed by your doctor. The difficult part is continuing medication for several months after the cough has gone.

WHO says that about 10.7 million people worldwide developed TB in 2024 and 1.23 million died from it. China accounted for 6.5% of new cases worldwide. WHO estimates that about 696,000 people in China developed TB in 2024 and about 28,000 died from it. About 76% of estimated new cases were diagnosed and reported. China's Measures for the Administration of Tuberculosis Prevention and Control define any of the following as symptoms suggestive of pulmonary TB: cough or sputum production lasting at least 2 weeks, coughing up blood, or blood-streaked sputum. The consequences of leaving TB untreated come from a systematic review of studies conducted before anti-TB medicines became available. Among people with untreated sputum smear-positive pulmonary TB, 53% to 86% died within 10 years, with a weighted average of 70%. Smear-positive means bacteria can be detected directly in the sputum. For smear-negative, culture-positive pulmonary TB, about 20% died within 10 years. Treatment outcomes come from WHO's published data for China. About 549,000 new and relapse patients (548839 people) started treatment in 2023. About 95% had a successful outcome, meaning they were cured or completed treatment on schedule; about 2.9% died. In 2024, about 2.9% of new TB patients in China had rifampicin resistance, compared with 17% of previously treated patients. Rifampicin is a key first-line TB medicine. Of 9927 patients with multidrug-resistant TB who started treatment in 2022, 6783 had a successful outcome, about 68%. More than half of China's patients with multidrug-resistant TB were on long regimens lasting 18 to 20 months. WHO says that stopping medication early or without medical advice can cause TB bacteria in the body to become drug-resistant. National public information materials state that the full course for ordinary pulmonary TB is 6 to 8 months, and for drug-resistant TB, 18 to 24 months. They also say that improper treatment can promote resistance, after which cure rates are lower and costs higher. A Cochrane review included 5 randomized trials. The trials shortened the standard 6-month course to 4 months, substituting moxifloxacin for other drugs. The relative risk of relapse after treatment was RR 3.56 (95% CI 2.37–5.37). Relapse was about 3.6 times as likely as with the 6-month course (global / China).

卫生部令第 92 号 (2013). 结核病防治管理办法（第八、十八、二十一、三十、三十九条）. https://www.gov.cn/gongbao/content/2013/content_2396617.htm；国家疾控局等九部门 (2024). 关于印发《全国结核病防治规划（2024—2030年）》的通知（国疾控传防发〔2024〕19号）. https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202412/content_6991217.htm；卫生部疾病预防控制局 (2011). 关于印发《结核病防治核心信息（2010版）》的通知. https://www.nhc.gov.cn/jkj/c100066/201101/4cc8d0f2ec8c4827b706b57d971175fe.shtml；国家卫生计生委办公厅 (2016). 关于印发百千万志愿者结核病防治知识传播活动工作方案和结核病防治核心信息及知识要点的通知（附件 2：结核病防治核心信息及知识要点（2016年版））. https://www.nhc.gov.cn/jkj/c100063/201604/5a1ec7fa717d44abb06c04091919ccca.shtml；World Health Organization (2026). Tuberculosis（事实清单，2026-03-24）. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tuberculosis；World Health Organization (2025). Global Tuberculosis Report 2025, 1.3 Drug-resistant TB. https://www.who.int/teams/global-programme-on-tuberculosis-and-lung-health/tb-reports/global-tuberculosis-report-2025/tb-disease-burden/1-3-drug-resistant-tb；World Health Organization (2025). Global Tuberculosis Report 2025, 2.4 DR-TB: treatment enrolment, coverage & outcomes. https://www.who.int/teams/global-programme-on-tuberculosis-and-lung-health/tb-reports/global-tuberculosis-report-2025/tb-diagnosis-and-treatment/2-4-drug-resistant-tb-treatment；World Health Organization Global Tuberculosis Programme. TB data（estimates、mdr_rr_estimates、outcomes 三个数据集，中国 2022 到 2024 年，2026-11-04 下载）. https://www.who.int/teams/global-programme-on-tuberculosis-and-lung-health/data；Tiemersma EW, van der Werf MJ, Borgdorff MW, Williams BG, Nagelkerke NJ (2011). Natural history of tuberculosis: duration and fatality of untreated pulmonary tuberculosis in HIV negative patients: a systematic review. PLoS One, 6(4), e17601. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0017601；Grace AG, Mittal A, Jain S, et al. (2019). Shortened treatment regimens versus the standard regimen for drug-sensitive pulmonary tuberculosis. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, CD012918.pub2. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD012918.pub2；Fox GJ, Barry SE, Britton WJ, Marks GB (2013). Contact investigation for tuberculosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. European Respiratory Journal, 41(1), 140-156. https://doi.org/10.1183/09031936.00070812

If someone in your household is diagnosed with infectious pulmonary TB, people living with them and coworkers or classmates who spend a lot of time with them should also get checked at a designated hospital. The Measures for the Administration of Tuberculosis Prevention and Control require designated hospitals to screen these close contacts. An analysis of 95 studies from low- and middle-income settings found that about 3.1% of contacts already had TB disease and about 51.5% had latent infection. Latent infection means the bacteria are in the body but have not caused disease, and the person is not contagious. The 2024 national plan calls for testing close contacts for TB infection and providing preventive treatment to those with latent infection. Local practices vary; ask the designated hospital. National public information materials say that people with HIV, diabetes, pneumoconiosis, older adults, and people with weakened immunity are more likely to develop TB and should have regular annual checks. For HIV, see Item 31 in this section (get tested for HIV once); for blood glucose, see Item 8 (check fasting blood glucose). If you need to travel elsewhere during treatment, tell the doctor managing your care first, then find a local designated hospital at your destination to continue treatment. WHO describes daily medication for 4 to 6 months for ordinary TB, while China's public information materials say 6 to 8 months. Follow the designated hospital's instructions on duration; do not shorten it yourself. For the general principle of completing medicine as prescribed, see Section 16, Item 1 (complete medication as prescribed). The main beneficiary is you, and this also protects the family members you live with and others around you. Site editorial note: treatment for multidrug- or rifampicin-resistant TB (MDR/RR-TB) does not invariably take more than 18 months. WHO's 2025 guidelines and report include 6-month or 9-month all-oral regimens for eligible patients. Eligibility depends on drug resistance, previous medication exposure, disease features, and other criteria; some patients still need longer treatment. The 18–24 months quoted from Chinese public information materials dates to 2016, and the reported use of 18–20-month regimens reflects the cited report's data period, not a current requirement for everyone. The relapse RR of 3.56 in the 2019 Cochrane review comes from specific trials comparing 4-month regimens that substituted moxifloxacin for other drugs with 6-month regimens. It does not establish that all 4-month regimens are unsafe. The designated TB care team should determine the regimen and duration under current applicable standards; do not shorten or extend treatment yourself. WHO: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240107243 ; https://www.who.int/teams/global-programme-on-tuberculosis-and-lung-health/tb-reports/global-tuberculosis-report-2025/tb-diagnosis-and-treatment/2-4-drug-resistant-tb-treatment . Earlier Chinese materials: https://www.nhc.gov.cn/jkj/c100063/201604/5a1ec7fa717d44abb06c04091919ccca.shtml . Review: https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD012918.pub2 . The historical 70% untreated mortality estimate concerns HIV-negative, sputum smear-positive patients before anti-TB drugs were available. The roughly 20% figure for smear-negative, culture-positive TB is an indirect estimate, not a directly observed 10-year mortality proportion. The moxifloxacin analysis yielding relapse RR 3.56 specifically pooled 3 trials with 2265 participants. Natural-history review: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0017601 .