Tuburculosis (TB) is a world-wide infectious disease that is caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis. While the common form causes pulmonary or lung tuberculosis, bovine tuberculosis is passed from cattle and causes the disease in the gastrointestinal tract.
Symptoms of TB
Patients with tuberculosis usually have a wracking cough that produces blood stained sputum as well as night sweats and weight loss. Tuburculosis is more common in the young and very old. There is also higher number of cases among men and people suffering from other chronic diseases including alcholism and diseases that suppress the immune system such as cancers and AIDS. Tuberculosis is in fact a major cause of death in patients with AIDS/HIV. The disease also spreads in areas of poverty, war and malnourishment.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a slender, rod shaped bacteria, which is difficult to grow in culture, making diagnosis slower. This bacteria does not give out any direct toxins but causes cell damage and destruction by triggering a hypersensitivity reaction in tissues.
Primary tuberculosis occurs when someone who has never had the disease before becomes infected. Inhaling the bacteria causes lesions in the upper part of the lung. Other areas that may be affected include the ileum (intestines), the brain and the kidneys. The bacteria focuses on this area because it is strictly an aerobe and must be in oxygen-rich areas.
Hypersensitivity of the lung caused by tuberculosis is followed by the bodys' inflammatory response which leads to tissue destruction with necrosis (death) in the center. The infection may be carried to the lymph nodes which will swell. In most, otherwise healthy people these lesions heal, but the mycobacteria may survive in the body, laying dormant and causing secondary infections later on.
Treatment for Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis is a treatable disease, yet despite this it remains a critical problem in underdeveloped countries and areas affected by war and conflict. In developed countries there is also a problem of the overuse of antibiotics causing treatment resistant ‘super’ mycobacteria. Multi-drug resistance to the two most common anti-tuberculosis drugs, rifampicin and isoniazid, is common in Russia and several other former Soviet Union nations due to the overuse of antibiotics or giving patients an incomplete course of antibiotics.
It is important to quarantine patients with suspected TB as it is estimated that untreated individuals spread the disease to an average of 12 other people.
Vaccines for tuberculosis have been shown to prevent tuberculosis meningitis (infection in the brain), but not other infections. Traditional tuberculosis treatment requires taking multiple medications for 6 months to a year. This causes problems with patients completing the course of drugs and receiving enough medication to last this long. Recovering patients may also feel well enough to think they no longer require medication. There is also a problem with documenting and keeping track of patients in unstable, war-torn societies and even in poorer inner-city areas of developed countries.
Reference
World Health Organization, Update on Infectious Disease
Noreen Kassem - Noreen Kassem is a hospital doctor based in London, UK. She has extensive experience in clinical research and an undergraduate honors ...
