A Letter A Letter With The TB Virus

Current treatment of this disease is a complex, long process. Because of TBs notorious background of being resistant to many drugs, treatment usually consists of an antibiotic regimen lasting upwards of 6-12 months. Treatment also varies from individual to individual. Age, health, TB form, and location of infection all impact the type of treatment one is given to aide in curing the disease (MayoClinic, 2014). Regardless, treatment of this disease is not an easy task for many reasons. Compliance and patients tolerance to such a strict medication regimen for a prolonged period of time is a huge variable which decreases the likeness of successful treatment related to increased occurrences of medication side effects and missed dosages. According to World Health Organization

Tuberculosis is a disease of an infectious nature caused by a bacterium known as mycobacterium tuberculosis. The disease spreads through the air. People with the disease can spread it to susceptible people through coughing, sneezing, talking or spitting. It mainly affects the lungs and other parts such as the lymph nodes and kidneys can also be affected. The symptoms for TB are fatigue, coughing, night sweats, weight loss and fever. One third of the population of the world is affected with mycobacterium tuberculosis. The rate of infection is estimated to be one person per second. About 14 million people in the world are infected with active tuberculosis. Drug resistant TB has been recorded to be a serious public health hazard in many countries. Resistant strains have developed making it difficult to treat the disease. TB has caused millions of death mainly in people living with HIV/AIDS ADDIN EN.CITE Ginsberg19981447(Ginsberg, 1998)1447144717Ginsberg, Ann M.The Tuberculosis Epidemic: Scientific Challenges and OpportunitiesPublic Health Reports (1974-)Public Health Reports (1974-)128-13611321998Association of Schools of Public Health00333549http://www.jstor.org/stable/4598234( HYPERLINK l "_ENREF_3" o "Ginsberg, 1998 #1447" Ginsberg, 1998). The World Health Organization came up with the DOTS (Directly Observed, Therapy, Short course) strategy. The approach involves diagnosing cases and treating patients with drugs for about 6-8

Tuberculosis, the white plague as used to be called once upon a time is still one of the deadliest bacterial killers affecting almost all parts, all corners of the globe. Though successful anti-tubercular antibiotic regimens and effective vaccine are available for decades and being used in the battle against Koch’s bacillus, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of this chronic multi organ granulomatous disease, our strand in the battle continuously seems to be in the losing side. Moreover the increasing prevalence of HIV-AIDS and diabetes mellitus is being proved to be providing predisposition to tuberculosis. As witnessed by the WHO, which has estimated that, in the year 2012, 8.6 million people have developed tuberculosis and 1.3 million have died of the disease including 320000 deaths of HIV-TB co-infected people (Global tuberculosis report 2013. World Health Organization; 2013). Long term antibiotic therapy and that too associated with several side effects and discomforts have diminished patient compliance with the anti-tubercular chemotherapy. This fact in turn has raised the new deadlier MDR-TB and XDR-TB strains. The whole scenario is a matter of panic and questioning the effectiveness of anti-tubercular antibiotics, immunologic efficacy of century old BCG vaccine and all other medical advents.

They are isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol that are all consumed together and on a daily basis to kill tuberculosis that resides in the infected person's lungs for 2 months. After 2 months most of the tuberculosis has died and can’t be detected under a microscope. The infected person after the 2 months phases must take isoniazid and rifampicin daily for 4 months. This 6 months course is standard for the western approach. But if they failed to take these medicines daily, they will have to change courses and different medicines because tuberculosis may become resistant to the regular anti-tuberculosis drug that the patient failed to consume daily. This medicine against the drug-resistant tuberculosis is called fluoroquinolone and this treatment could last two years of continuous

Due to the transmission that TB is spread, through the air from one person to another coughing, sneezing, and speaking. It is vital that those who have TB disease are treated, complete the medicine regimen, and take the medications exactly as prescribed. If one was to discontinue the medications without completion, they can become ill again and if they do not take the drugs correctly, the TB bacteria that are still alive may become resistant to those medications. TB must be treated by taking antibiotics, the exact drugs and length of treatment depend on your age, overall health, possible drug resistance, the form of TB, latent or active, and the location

Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by a bacteria called Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, which normally affects the lungs, but it can also affect any part of the body, including the bones and the nervous system. The disease is spread easily through prolonged exposure to someone who has the illness, from their coughs and sneezes. For a healthy individual the body’s immune system kills the bacteria and prevents it from spreading in the body, which is known as ‘latent TB’. However, if the immune system fails to fight the bacteria, it can easily spread in the body. Symptoms will develop within a few weeks or months depending on the individual. This is known as an ‘active TB’. The symptoms are, constant coughing that brings up phlegm that may also contain blood, which lasts more than three weeks, combined with weight loss, tiredness and fatigue, loss of appetite and also fever. Without treatment, TB can cause major health problems and if its left untreated can even cause death (NHS 2016).

Drug-sensitive tuberculosis patients in the continuation phase of treatment in the intervention arm and their family members.

Active disease is diagnosed with chest x-ray, skin or blood tests and sputum smears. Cat scans and MRI’s can also be used for diagnosing. Treatment for active non-resistant TB consists of the use of a two drug therapy, generally isoniazid and rifampicin. Cure rate for this strain of TB can be over 90%. Treatment for active TB is done for a minimum of six months. As a result of individuals incompletely finishing their recommended dose of anti-tubercular

TB patients need to take two first line drugs for a period of 18 months – two years, with this chemotherapy patient is non infectious within a period of 2 weeks and can come back to his normal daily activities even going back to work also. As a result hospitalization for TB these days is minimal; patients who tested positive for TB were usually hospitalized until smear is negative continuing the chemotherapy on an outpatient basis. Hospitalization is also useful in assessing or analyzing the drug side effects during chemotherapy.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic bacterial infection that affects millions of people globally. It is a contagious disease that is spread through the air, and it usually affects the lungs. It is transmitted from person to person through droplets from the respiratory tract of those who are already infected with the disease. Some who are infected with the bacteria that causes TB often exhibit no symptoms, because their immune systems stop the bacteria from growing and multiplying. Those with compromised immune systems are more susceptible to developing the full blown disease which can cause symptoms that include coughing, spitting blood, chest pains, weakness, weight loss, and fever. Tuberculosis can be treated with a six to nine month course of a combination of antibiotics. If left untreated, TB will spread and can be fatal.

TB is caused by a bacterial infection known as mycobacterium tuberculosis. If a patient is sick with TB is considered a disease. The infection is prevalent in the HIV population because approximately 13 million Americans are effected by the TB bacteria. It typically involves the lungs but can also affect the brain and other organ systems. The TB germ is airborne and can live in the air for several hours. Once an affected person coughs or sneezes another person breathes in the germ and becomes infected. A patient with TB and HIV/AIDS will have to take an antibiotics long term to battle the infection. They will have to go through two phases of medication. The initial phase consists of utilizing drugs such as isoniazid, pyrazinamide, rifamycin, and ethambutol for the first couple of months. Then the patient will enter into the continuation phase, during this phase the patient will take the isoniazid and rifamycin for approximately four months. HIV patient’s that are taking antiretroviral for the HIV will have to take the antibiotics longer. A person taking treatment for TB has to be careful because the antibiotic can cause liver damage. According to the CDC, roughly 6% of all TB cases are from patients with HIV or AIDS. In 1992 the United States had a dramatic increase in TB cases but has decreased ever since. Recently a group of researchers at John Hopkins

Drug resistance has been increasing among patients infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Previous miracle drugs that were used in the 1950s have now been proven useless in many cases simply because the bacteria are not susceptible to antibiotics such as isoniazid, rifampin, pyrazinamide, etc. when they are taken. This pathogen is easily transmitted through air and has the capability of attacking the respiratory system and creating fatal consequences if not treated properly. A lot of people who contribute to the antibiotic resistant statistics are those that do not take medication accordingly. Even though the bacterium may not be resistant at first, it can

For years now drug resistance is increasing and not just in one or two strands of bacteria, it is in all of them. This resistance makes treating a patient with the infection more difficult to the point where some strands require surgery. Tuberculosis is not a bacterium that you can easily remove from the body though. It takes time and medication for the tuberculosis to be eradicated from the body. The problem is with the advancements of medicine bacterium, like tuberculosis, are starting to produce resistance to not just one or two drugs here or there, but the bacteria is producing resistance for multiple drugs at one time.

Tuberculosis is among the fatal diseases that are spread through the air. It’s contagious, meaning that it spreads from one infected individual to another, and at times it spreads very fast. In addition to being contagious, the disease is an opportunist infection as it takes advantage of those with weak defense mechanism, and especially the ones with terminal diseases like HIV and AIDS. Tuberculosis is therefore among the major concerns for the World Health Organization due to its contagious nature (World Health Organization 1).

India, the second most populous country with over 1.31 billion people, has the highest burden of tuberculosis (TB) in the world, accounting for 20% of the global incidence of TB, and an even higher share of global incidence of multi–drug resistant (MDR) TB. With an estimated 2 million new cases of TB and 5, 00,000 TB-related deaths in India annually, those who got diagnosed with different forms of DR-TB were 35,385 cases but only 20,753 people started on multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) treatment in 2013. The National Tuberculosis Program was launched in 1962, but suffered heavily continuing TB led mortality. Acknowledging this reality, a Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) was launched by the Government of India in 1997, however even today it does not comply with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.