Pulmonary Tuberculosis TB

Pulmonary tuberculosis is an infectious disease that mostly affects the lungs and can be very dangerous. Droplets expelled into the air from coughs and sneezes carry the tuberculosis-causing germs from one person to another.

Tuberculosis is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Many strains of tuberculosis resist the drugs most used to treat the disease. People with active tuberculosis must take several types of medications for many months to eradicate the infection and prevent the development of antibiotic resistance.

Symptoms

• Latent TB:
  To put it simply, latent tuberculosis is when the TB bacteria are present in your body but are inactive, thus you don't experience any symptoms. It's important to note that you can't spread latent tuberculosis, often known as inactive TB or TB infection. Latent tuberculosis (TB) is a dormant form of the disease that can reactivate into active TB if not treated.
   
• Active TB.
  This disease makes you unwell and can be passed on to others. It can happen as soon as a few weeks after contracting the TB germs, or it might take years.

Signs and symptoms of active TB include:

• Cough
• Unintentional weight loss
• Fatigue
• Fever
• Night sweats
• Chills
• Loss of appetite

Tests and diagnosis

Your doctor will use a stethoscope to listen to your lungs and examine your lymph nodes for swelling as part of the physical exam.

A simple skin test is the most frequent method for diagnosing TB. PPD tuberculin is injected subcutaneously into the inside aspect of the forearm. A little pinch from the needle is all that should be felt.

• Blood tests
  Latent or active TB can be confirmed or ruled out by a blood test. These tests use high-tech equipment to find out how your immune system responds to the TB bacteria.
• Chest X-ray
  A chest X-ray is typically prescribed after a positive skin test. This might indicate alterations in the lungs caused by active tuberculosis, or it could show white patches in the lungs where your immune system has fought off TB bacteria.
• Sputum tests
  If your chest X-ray shows signs of tuberculosis, your doctor may take samples of your sputum; the mucus that comes up when you a cough. The samples are tested for TB bacteria.

Treatments and drugs

Treatment for TB revolves around several medications. However, tuberculosis treatment takes far longer than antibiotic treatment for other bacterial diseases. Antibiotic treatment for TB typically lasts between six and nine months. Several factors, including the patient's age, current health status, the presence or absence of any drug resistance, the patient's TB subtype (latent vs active), and the infection's site in the body, will determine the specific medications and duration of therapy.

In certain cases, people with latent tuberculosis only need to take a single TB medicine. Multidrug therapy is necessary for active TB, especially if the strain is resistant to treatment.The most common medications used to treat tuberculosis include:

• Isoniazid
• Rifampin (Rifadin, Rimactane)
• Ethambutol (Myambutol)
• Pyrazinamide

Complications of TB

• pleural effusion
• respiratory failure
• respiratory distress syndrome
• relapse of disease

Prevention, early detection and treatment

• Covering the mouth when coughing and sneezing.
• Do not spit in elsewhere.
• Encourage BCG vaccination to the children as soon as possible after birth