Tuberculosis, Infection, Respiratory disorder, Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, Mantoux test, BCG vaccine

Description :   Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that can affect different organs in the body and can be very

Article Details    :

What is Tuberculosis?

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that can affect different organs in the body and can be very serious. It mainly affects the lungs but can present with a variety of signs and symptoms. It is the most common infectious disease leading to death across the world. Even if the number of people with tuberculosis is decreasing in the United States, it is increasing in other parts of the world and is of great concern. Furthermore, the pathogen causing the disease is becoming more and more resistant to the available treatments.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated that there were around 2 billion people with the latent form of the disease worldwide. This means that the person has the infection but is not presenting with signs or symptoms. Globally, the disease caused the death of around 1.7 million people in 2009.

The emergence of tuberculosis and its associated resistance to medications are mainly a result from the co-infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Causes of Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium Tuberculosis. Humans are the only known carriers of the organism and it spreads mostly through airborne droplets when someone in the active phase of the infection coughs, spits or sneezes.

If the person who catches the bacterium is healthy and has a normally functioning immune system, he/she will end up with latent/dormant tuberculosis. Only around 5% of those individuals can present with signs and symptoms later. If ever a person with latent tuberculosis has a decrease in his/her immune system, the bacteria can reactivate and cause disease.

Mycobacterium Tuberculosis has the ability to stay and grow in certain cells in the human body. Therefore, it can spread through blood and invade other structures such as the bone marrow, liver, spleen, kidneys and brain.

Infants, old people and other people with a weak immune system cannot contain the disease into the latent form. In these individuals, the disease spreads rapidly to different parts of the body.

With time, some strains of tuberculosis have become resistant to the antibiotics that were made several years ago. This gives the bacterium the ability to survive despite the administration of treatment.

Risk factors

There are certain factors that determines whether the infection is likely to be transmitted. These are:

• How many organisms have been expelled by the infected individual
• How long has a person been exposed to contaminated air
• Whether the person breathing in the contaminated air has a strong or weak immune system

Other factors that puts you more at risk of getting infected with tuberculosis include:

• Living in crowded and closed environment along with infected persons
• Being a healthcare worker taking care of infected patients
• Being a nursing home resident
• Being in prison
• Having HIV infection
• Being an intravenous drug abuser
• Taking immunosuppressive therapy
• Smoking
• Having a low body weight
• Being very young or old
• Travelling to at risk countries specially Africa and Asia

Signs and symptoms

Active tuberculosis present classically with the following signs and symptoms:

• Cough
• Loss of weight
• Loss of appetite
• Fever
• Coughing up blood
• Night sweats
• Pain in the chest
• Decreased energy

If the infection spreads to the brain you may experience the following:

• Intermittent or constant headache
• Changes in the brain function such as confusion, memory loss or disorientation
• Low grade or no fever

On the other hand, if the infection reaches your bones you may present with:

• Back pain
• Stiff back
• Inability to move your lower extremities
• Joint pain

Tuberculosis of the genitourinary system leads to:

• Painful urination
• Frequent urination
• Pain in the flank
• Enlarged scrotum
• Inflammation of the prostate
• Inflammation of the testicles

Spread of tuberculosis to the gastrointestinal tract presents with the following symptoms:

• Non healing ulcers in the mouth or around the anus
• Difficulty to swallow
• Abdominal pain
• Blood in stools

Making a diagnosis

After taking a detailed history from you, your doctor will perform a physical examination during which he/she will be looking for signs of tuberculosis. He/she will listen over your lungs using a stethoscope to listen for the sounds made by your lungs.

There are several tests done to diagnose tuberculosis including:

• Mantoux tuberculin test with purified protein derivative (PPD): This is the primary method for diagnosing and screening for tuberculosis. In this test, a small amount of PPD is injected under your skin on your forearm. After several hours, the injection site will be checked for any changes and interpreted accordingly.
• Blood tests: These tests assess how your body is reacting to the    Read more