WHAT IS TUBERCULOSIS
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally
affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most
infections show no symptoms, in which case it is known as latent
tuberculosis. Around 10% of latent infections progress to active
disease which, if left untreated, kill about half of those affected.
Infection of other organs can cause a wide range of symptoms.
Tuberculosis also remains a major killer because of the increase in
drug-resistant strains. Over time, some TB germs have developed the
ability to survive despite medications. Drug-resistant strains of
tuberculosis emerge when an antibiotic fails to kill all the bacteria it
targets. The surviving bacteria become resistant to the most
commonly used treatments, such as isoniazid and rifampin (Rifadin,
Rimactane).
Some TB strains have also developed resistance to drugs such as
antibiotics. The risk factors are that anyone can get tuberculosis, but
certain factors can increase your risk, including weakened immune
system. A healthy immune system often successfully fights TB
bacteria. However, several conditions and medications can weaken
your immune system, including:
HIV/AIDS
Diabetes
Severe kidney disease
Certain cancers
Cancer treatment, such as chemotherapy
Drugs to prevent rejection of transplanted organs
Some drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease
and psoriasis
Malnutrition or low body weight
Very young or advanced age
Traveling or living in certain areas
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF TUBERCULOSIS
Some people who acquire Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, the bacterium
that causes TB, do not experience symptoms. This condition is known
as latent TB. TB can stay dormant for years before developing into
active TB disease. It’s called active TB if you have symptoms.
However, in some cases symptoms might not develop until months or
even years after the initial infection. Sometime the infection does not
cause any symptoms. This is known as latent TB.
General symptoms of TB. Because active TB typically causes many
symptoms. Your symptoms might not begin until months or even years
after you were initially infected. While symptoms usually relate to the
respiratory system, they could affect other parts of the body
depending on where the TB bacteria grow. Symptoms caused by TB in
the lungs include:
Extreme tiredness or fatigue
Cough lasting more than 3 weeks
Coughing up blood or sputum (phlegm)
Chest pain
General TB symptoms
Unexplainable fatigue
Weakness
Fever
Chill’s
Appetite loss
Weight loss
Along with general symptoms
TB that spreads to other organs can also cause blood in urine and loss
of kidney function, if TB affects the kidney back pain and stiffness,
muscle spasms, and spinal irregularity if TB affects the spine, nausea
and vomiting, confusion, and loss of consciousness, if TB spreads to
the brain. These symptoms can have many different causes, however,
and are not always a sign of TB.
Most TB infections affect the lungs, which can cause a persistent
cough that lasts more than 3 weeks. And usually brings up phlegm,
which may be bloody, breathlessness that gradually gets worse. TB
outside the lungs less commonly, TB infections develop in areas
outside the lungs, such as the small glands that form part of the
immune system (the lymph nodes), the bones and joints, the digestive
system, the bladder and reproductive system, and the brain and
nerves (the nervous system). Symptoms can include:
Persistent swollen glands
Abdominal pain
Pain and loss of movement in an affected bone or joint
Confusion
Persistent headache
Fit (seizures)
HOW DOES THE TUBERCULOSIS SPREAD
Tuberculosis is spread from one person to the next through the air
when people who have active TB in their lungs cough, spit, speak or
sneeze. People with latent TB do not spread the disease. Active
infection occurs more often in people with HIV/AIDS and those who
smoke. Diagnosis of active TB is based on chest X-rays, as well as
microscopic examination and culture of body fluids.
WHAT’S THE CAUSE OF TUBERCULOSIS
Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by any type of bacterium called
Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It’s spread when a person with active TB
disease in their lungs coughs or sneeze and someone else inhales the
expelled droplets, which contains TB bacterium. Although TB is
spread in similar way to a cold flu, it is not as contagious. You would
have to spend prolonged periods (several hours) in close contact with
an infected person to catch the infection itself. For example, TB
infections usually spread between family members who live in the
same house. It would be highly unlikely for you to become infected by
sitting next to an infected person on, for instance, a bus or train. Not
everyone with TB is infectious. Children with TB or people with a TB
infection that occurs outside the lungs (extrapulmonary TB) do not
spread the infection.
LATENT OR ACTIVE TUBERCULOSIS
In the most healthy people, the immune system is able to destroy the
bacteria that cause TB. But in some cases, the bacteria infect the body
but do not cause any symptoms (latent TB), or the infection begins to
cause symptoms within weeks, months or even years (active TB). Up
to 10% of people with latent TB eventually develop active TB years
after the initial infection. This usually happens either within the first
year or two of infection, or when the immune system is weakened for
example, if someone is having chemotherapy treatment for cancer.
THE OTHER FACTORS THAT CAN CAUSE ITEBERCULOSOS
ARE:
-Using Substance
Like IV drugs or excessive alcohol use weakens your immune
system and makes you vulnerable to tuberculosis.
-Using Tobacco
Greatly increases the risk of getting TB and dying it
-Working in Health Care
Or regular contact with people who are ill increases your
chances of exposure to TB bacteria.
-Living or Working
In a residential care facility. People who live or work in prisons,
homeless shelters, psychiatric hospitals or nursing homes are at a
higher risk of tuberculosis due to overcrowding and poor ventilation.
-Living with someone infected with TB
And close contact with someone who has TB increases your risk.
HOW CAN YOU PREVENT TUBERCULOSIS
Keeping your immune system healthy and avoiding exposure to
someone with active TB is the best way to prevent a TB infection. To
prevent the transmission of tuberculosis are improving ventilation in
door spaces so there are fewer bacteria in the air. Using germicidal
UV lamps to kill airborne bacteria in building where there are people
at high risk of TB. To protect your family and friends if you have active
TB.
Follow these tips to help keep your friends and family from getting
sick:
Stay at home. Don’t go to work or school or sleep in a room with
other people.
Ventilate the room. Tuberculosis germs spread more easily in small
closed spaces where air doesn’t move. If it’s not too cold outdoors,
open the window and use a fan to blow indoor air outside.
Cover your mouth. Use a tissue to cover your mouth anytime you
laugh, sneeze or cough. Put the dirty tissue in a bag, seal it and throw
it away.
WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF TUBERCULOSIS
1. The Active Tuberculosis Disease
The active TB is an illness in which the TB bacteria are rapidly
multiplying and invading different organs of the body. The typical
symptoms of active TB variably include cough, phlegm, chest pain,
weakness, weight loss, fever, chills and sweating at night. A person
with active pulmonary TB disease may spread TB to others by
airborne transmission of infectious particles coughed into the air. If
you are diagnosed with an active TB disease, be prepared to give a
careful, detailed history of every person with whom you have had
contact. Since the active form may be contagious, these people need
to be tested as well.
Multi-drug treatment is employed to treat active TB disease.
Depending on state or local public health regulations, you may be
asked to take your antibiotics under the supervision of your physician
or other healthcare professionals. This program is called “Directly
Observed Therapy” and is designed to prevent abandonment or
erratic treatment, which may result in “failure” with continued risk of
transmission or acquired resistance of bacteria to the medications,
including the infamous multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB).
2. Miliary Tuberculosis
Miliary tuberculosis is a rare form of active disease that occurs
when TB bacteria find their way into the bloodstream. In this form,
the bacteria quickly spread all over the body in tiny nodules and
affect multiple organs at once. This form of TB can be rapidly fatal.
3. Latent Tuberculosis Infection
Many of those who are infected with TB do not develop overt
disease.
