Caught atypical TB in my late Twenties. Was coughing and breaking ribs. Milwaukee General put me in it’s TB Ward. Was there for a long time before they figured out it was Atypical, and that I probably caught it gardening, and that I wasn’t contagious. I lost everything I had.
Caught it gardening? How?
Those type of diseases are very hard to diagnose because unlike other bacteria, TB and related bacteria grow very slowly. This means they have to prescribe one kind of antibiotics, and wait a while to see if it works; then if it doesn’t, a different antibiotic, etc.
It was made worse because it is hard to tell if the bacteria is alive or not. Then not too long ago, so student found an old kind of stain that is absorbed by living bacteria, but not dead ones. Really speeded up diagnosis.