Article on Tuberculosis

date 30/4/2012

Tuberculosis is a respiratory disease that is passed to other people through coughing and sneezing over a period of time and where there is little ventilation to prevent it from spreading. At this point the bacteria enter their respiratory system and can spread to other organs if it is not suppressed by the person's immune system. If the person who is exposed to TB is healthy, his immune system is then able to contain the bacteria and the person then has what is called Latent TB, which may become active if their immune system is somehow impaired, either by age or other diseases such as AIDS.

Signs and Symptoms of Tuberculosis.

of the most common symptoms of tuberculosis is cough, which becomes persistent and is accompanied by phlegm and even blood. The One coughing becomes more and more prominent with time. The patient becomes weak, loses focus and suffers from fever and sickness often. One of the common TB disease symptoms is chills and night sweats. The patient gets in and out of fever and feels uneasy most of the times. Even during cold weather, night sweats becomes a common phenomenon. A very common symptom is loss of appetite. A person suffering from tuberculosis has drastic appetite loss which apparently leads to a loss in weight. The person becomes skinny, looks weak and out of strength. Like a cycle, this loss of strength helps the disease to spread faster as the immune system becomes more and more weak and the bacteria becomes stronger. Chest pain is a symptom of tuberculosis which causes a great deal of uneasiness to the patient. The activity of breathing becomes more and more difficult with time as the membranes lining the lungs get infected and inflamed by a condition known as Pleurisy. Other symptoms like

Incubation Period of TB

Tuberculosis is caused due to slow dividing bacteria. As a result, it takes the infection several months to years to develop active symptoms for the disease. However, within 2 to 12 weeks of exposure to the bacteria, a person may develop a primary infection to lungs. Incidentally, this infection is asymptotic, meaning it does not produce any symptom at all. A chest X-ray at this time shows no infection to lungs. The only way of detecting an infection is a tuberculin skin test, which looks for antibodies against tuberculosis bacteria. This test can successfully confirm if the patient has been exposed to TB bacteria or not. Usually, primary infection is taken care of by the person's immune system within 6 to 8 weeks of exposu

Transmition of TB
Tuberculosis bacteria is present in the expectoration matter (phlegm) of the infected person. When a TB infected person coughs or sneezes, the air surrounding him is filled with bacteria encapsulated in phlegm. When a healthy person breathes this air, the bacteria can easily enter his body. As evident, the mode of transmission of this infection is very convenient. This is the reason why tuberculosis infection spreads so quickly from one person to other. However, one must note that only a person who shows active symptoms is capable of transmitting the infection.

Specific Medicines Used for Tuberculosis

Isoniazid (INH) Rifampin (RIF) Ethambu Pyrazinamide.