What should you know about blood vomiting in TB?

Pulmonary TB can injure or irritate airway tissue, so a person may cough up blood mixed with mucus. Vomiting blood is different: it follows nausea or retching and may arise from the oesophagus, stomach, or swallowed blood. A severe coughing spell can also trigger retching, making the source confusing. The amount, colour, and presence of clots do not safely identify the cause without an examination.

Seek urgent medical assessment and describe whether coughing, nausea, or retching came first. Sit upright, use a tissue or container to show what was brought up, and avoid food, drink, aspirin, ibuprofen, and alcohol until advised. Continue TB treatment unless the treating team tells you otherwise, and tell clinicians about missed doses and any other medicines.

Call emergency services for repeated or heavy bleeding, difficulty breathing, chest pain, faintness, confusion, severe weakness, or blue lips. Keep distance from others and follow your TB team's infection-control advice while arranging care, particularly if your TB may still be infectious.

Ask whether the blood is more consistent with airway or digestive bleeding, whether your TB treatment needs review, which tests are needed, and what precautions protect people around you.