I had researched your question when you first posted it, and couldn't find an article written by experts who said that TB produces odor. I found an article by they Mayo Clinic, http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/tuberculosis/DS00372/DSECTION=2, which gives a great deal of information on tuberculosis. It doesn't mention that it produces body odor, but rather night sweats with slight fever and chills. (See Signs and symptoms section). I checked NCBI PubMed, and couldn't find an article that states that body malodor is a significant symptom of tuberculosis. That doesn't mean that TB doesn't produce odor, but it is not remarkable enough to be mentioned as a significant symptom of TB.
From personal experience, my periodic common sinus infection and asthma (lung infection) produce odorous mucous, as it has happened to me countless times. It gives me bad breath, but not strong body odor. It's the mucous and saliva that smell, and it goes away when the infection is gone. When I had a MRSA infection in my skin, I had odor on and off, and it went away antibiotics and the MRSA was removed surgically. I would believe what your doctor says to you about a TB infection producing body odor. Infections can produce odor, however, I don't recall every having as strong an odor with an infection as the odor produced by a metabolic disorder.
You may want to try to think if you had body odor before you were infected with TB, if that is possible to determine. There are many causes of odor, including the metabolic disorder, many of which (if not all metabolic disorders) have to do with a low level or absence of one or more metabolic enzymes. Let me try to explain a little what a metabolic enzyme does.
It is my understanding that there is a difference between a metabolic enzyme and a digestive enzyme, for comparison sakes. I understand that digestive enzymes work in the gut to breakup macromolecules of the foods we eat, such as starch, fats, cellulose, or proteins so they can be absorbed into the bloodstream to be used in cell metabolism throughout the body.
It is in the cell metabolism (in cells throughout our body) where the metabolic enzymes, such as FMO3 work (a metabolic enzyme produced by the liver) to aid in metabolism. For further explanation of what metabolism is, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metabolism.
I don't know what type of odor you may have, or what is causing your odor. I do hope it is caused by your TB because then it will be resolved when your infection is cured. If not, then you might want to stay in touch with this forum, and visit my blog for the latest information on other types of metabolic disorders, the research that is being done in this field, and possible treatment options.
Best of luck,
mpdela
Hi again splendor123,
I need to make a correction to a typo in the above message in the 2nd from the last paragraph, it should read, 'This is why you CANNOT take just take a pill at this time, like you would lactaid pill for digestive purposes, for example." Sorry for not having typed the 'not' part of the word :)