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TUBERCULOSIS
TUBERCULOSIS
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.
Around 10% of latent infections progress to active disease which, if left untreated, kill about half of those affected.
Tuberculosis also remains a major killer because of the increase in drug-resistant strains. Over time, some TB germs
Drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis emerge when an antibiotic fails to kill all of the bacteria it targets.
The surviving bacteria become resistant to that drug and often other antibiotics as well.
Some TB bacteria have developed resistance to the most commonly used treatments, such as isoniazid and rifampin
( Rifadin, Rimactane).
Some TB strains have also developed resistance to drugs such as the antibiotics.
The risks factors are that anyone can get tuberculosis, but certain factors can increase your risk, including weakened
immune system.
However, several conditions and medications can weaken your immune system, including:
-HIV/AIDS
-Diabetes
-Certain cancers
-Some drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, Crone's disease and psoriasis
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.
However, in some cases, symptoms might not develop until months or even years after the initial
infection.
Sometimes the infection does not cause any symptoms. This is known as latent TB.
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,
-Chest pain
-General TB symptoms
-Unexplainable fatigue
-Weakness
-Fever
-Chill’s
-knight sweats
-Appetite loss
-Weight loss
TB that spreads to other organs can also cause blood in urine and loss of kidney function, if TB affects
the kidneys 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).
-Adnominal pain
confusion
-Persistent headache
-Fist (seizures)
Tuberculosis is spread from one person to the next through the air when people who have active TB
Active infection occurs more often in people with HIV/AIDS and in those who smoke.
Diagnosis of active TB is based on chest X-rays, as well as microscopic examination and culture of body
Fluids.
It's spread when a person with active TB disease in their lungs coughs or sneezes and someone else
You would have to spend prolonged periods (several hours) in close contact with an infected person
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
Not everyone with TB is infectious. Children with TB or people with a TB infection that occurs outside
LATENT OR ACTIVE TB
In 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
-Using substances.
Like IV drugs or excessive alcohol use weakens your immune system and makes you more vulnerable
to tuberculosis.
-Using tobacco.
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 all at a higher risk of tuberculosis due to overcrowding and poor ventilation.
And close contact with someone who has TB increases your risk.
Keeping your immune system healthy and avoiding exposure to someone with active TB is the best
To prevent the transmission of tuberculosis are improving ventilation in door spaces so there are
Using germicidal UV lamps to kill airborne bacteria in buildings where there are people at high risk of
TB.
Follow these tips to help keep your friends and family from getting sick:
-Stay 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 windows 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.
The active TB is an illness in which the TB bacteria are rapidly multiplying and invading different
The typical symptoms of active TB variably include cough, phlegm, chest pain, weakness, weight loss,
A person with active pulmonary TB disease may spread TB to others by airborne transmission of
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
Depending on state or local public health regulations, you may be asked to take your antibiotics
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 the bacteria to the medications, including the infamous multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-
TB).
- Military TB.
Military TB 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
- Latent TB Infection.
Many of those who are infected with TB do not develop overt disease. They have no symptoms and
their chest x-ray may be normal. The only manifestation of this encounter may be reaction to the
tuberculin skin test (TST) or interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA). However, there is an ongoing
risk that the latent infection may escalate to active disease. The risk is increased by other illnesses
such as HIV or medications which compromise the immune system. To protect against this, the