DENVER -- While the National Jewish Medical Center is treating an Atlanta man with a rare drug-resistant form of tuberculosis, doctors said that the vast majority of TB patients can be treated fairly easily.

There are nearly 14,000 cases of TB in the U.S. each year.

It took one young woman who contracted tuberculosis nearly a year to get better in part because her treatment didn't start until months after she got sick.

Margaret Freedman said the treatment process wasn't a pleasant experience, but it won't stop her from going back to Kenya where she believes she became infected two years ago.

"I was on a bus there with very little ventilation and it was about a two-hour bus ride," Freedman said. "I'm pretty sure that the man sitting two rows in front of me who was hacking and coughing gave me tuberculosis."

The pain began in her shoulder and five months later she was very sick.

"I started getting fevers and night sweats and really fatigued and I was really sick, kind of like pneumonia," she said.

The X-rays confirmed a large amount of fluid had built up around one lung.

"It can be a deadly disease even in young, healthy people, so it's still a threat and it's still something that we have to continually work on," said Dr. Randall Reves of Denver Metro TB Control Program.

Freedman underwent nine months of treatment that involved taking as many as 13 stomach-turning pills in one sitting.

"I saw it as a huge learning experience and also an eye-opener to a very serious disease that not many people know about," she said.

Freedman has a message, particularly for those who travel.

"My soapbox is please get tested for TB if you've been somewhere where there could possibly be TB," she said.