TB is a highly preventable disease. The main factors in preventing TB are avoiding contact with people who have active TB infections, maintaining healthy living standards, and preventing latent TB infections from becoming active disease. Measures that you can take to avoid TB include:

• Keep your immune system healthy: a healthy immune system can help fight off an initial TB infection or keep an existing TB infection latent.
• Get tested regularly, especially if you have risk factors for TB such as frequent travel to countries with high TB rates, a compromised immune system, or a job as a health care worker.
• If you have latent TB, consider taking preventative therapy (isoniazid) to avoid an active TB infection in the future.
• Finish your entire course of medication. Whether you are being treated for latent or active TB it is critical to complete your course of antibiotics and take them in the manner prescribed by your doctor. Not doing so can create drug resistant TB.
• A vaccine called BCG is available and can help prevent TB in children, but it is not widely available in the United States and may have limited effectiveness in developed countries.