Tuberculosis : A Leading Cause Of Infectious Lung Disease Essay

Once believed to be easily treated and prevented, Tuberculosis (TB) has recently been making a steady comeback. Previous to modern medicine, TB claimed millions of victims, spreading from person to person like wildfire. Around the 17th-18th centuries, the “White Plague” took the lives of 1 in 5 adults (20%) in Europe and North America (Iseman, 1994). However, as technological advances progressed, this seemingly ferocious viral disease became a primal, insignificant thing of the past. But, in the nature of all bacteria, TB has, in the recent years, mutated to become progressively drug resistant. Why is Tuberculosis coming back with a vengeance? Well, the answer’s quite simple. TB has done an amazing job of standing in the corner and

According to the World Health Organization, tuberculosis (TB) is the number two killer worldwide due to a single infectious agent (WHO, 2017). In 2015, 10.4 million new cases have been identified and 1.8 million people have died from this disease (WHO, 2017). TB is caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium TB, and the majority of TB deaths occur in low and middle-income countries. This disease is curable and preventable, but the lack of access to proper healthcare and medication administration makes it a concern for the most of the world’s population. TB is an airborne disease that can transmit when an infected person coughs, sneezes, spits, laughs, or talks. The majority of TB cases can be cured when the right medications are available and

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly attacks the lungs (2). Moreover, it makes the lungs unhealthy and infected. It is transmitted from one person to another via droplets. For example, from the throats and lungs of people infected with this active respiratory disease (2). In 2012, nearly nine million people around the

Tuberculosis ranks as the second leading cause of death from a single infectious agent as per the 2014 WHO report and continues as a global health problem. Global Emergency was declared by WHO against tuberculosis in March 1993. As per the WHO 2015 report 9.6 million were affected with TB globally and 1.5 million people died in 2014. India reported 23% of total cases globally with highest prevalence rate of 195 per 105 populations. In the total 9.6 million new cases of TB 1.2 million cases were HIV positive. India is one among the top ten countries reported with MDR and XDR-TB. The etiological agent Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an Acid-fast bacillus which is spread by air borne droplets and aerosols and infects most commonly the lungs

While M. tuberculosis infection and disease is primarily associated with the lungs, it can also infect bones, brain, and major organs. These complications are more prevalent with advanced disease, and are often fatal. Pain and joint destruction, meningitis, kidney or liver disease, and cardiac tamponade are the often-fatal results from lack of treatment. These complications from extended disease are not the only serious ones, however. Lung infection alone may result in a long list of serious thoracic sequelae. There are parenchymal, airway, vascular, mediastinal and pleural complications that are direct results of the infection even before it has spread or become systemic. These can result in lifelong impairments with breathing and with immunosuppression.

The bacteria that caused TB is spread through the air from person to person. The TB bacteria are put into the air when a person with TB disease coughs, sneezes, speaks, or sings. People nearby may breathe in these bacteria and become infected. It is caused by bacteria that spread from person to person through microscopic droplets into the air. This can happen with the untreated, active form of tuberculosis does any of the following actions that were previously mentioned. Although tuberculosis is contagious, it is not easy to catch. TB bacteria can live in the body without making you sick. This is called latent TB infection. In most people who breathe in TB bacteria and become infected, the body is able to fight the bacteria to stop them from growing. People with

Pulmonary tuberculosis is usually caused when a person coughs or sneeze and breath in air droplets of a bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis). Sometimes; if a person lives in a small contained home that is not cleaned and have no sunlight coming into the home may put them at risk of developing tuberculosis. Homeless people can be at risk for tuberculosis because that are not getting any nutrition and live in a poor environment. People that are living with HIV are really at risk of contracted TB because their immune system may be low and are unable to fight off the bacteria due to medication they may be taking. People do not have to necessarily be around a person with TB, their poor living situation can cause them to contracted TB. This bacteria mycobacterium

‘TB can affect different parts of the body – it can be in your bladder or in your spine, or anywhere – but with pulmonary TB one of the biggest problems is that patients often become very deconditioned,’ says Ms

Latent TB can turn into active TB. Initial symptoms of active TB can include fever, fatigue, coughing up blood, weight loss, and night sweats, and loss of appetite. These symptoms can be very vague, because they can mimic other illnesses. Therefore these symptoms can also go unnoticed by the affected person. This is why early detection and treatment of TB is important for individuals to help control the spread of the disease.

Etiology is known as the study of the cause of a disease and Pathogenesis can be defined at the origination and development of a disease. Tuberculosis, also known as TB, is cased by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is spread from person to person through airborne particles or microscopic droplets released into the air. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is a slow-growing bacterium that can only live in people and needs oxygen to survive. Spread of TB can happen when someone with untreated and active TB coughs, speaks, sneezes or spits. While tuberculosis is contagious it is not very easy to catch. However, if it does get in your system one of three things can happen when it enters the human body; the bacterium can be destroyed if the body has a strong immune system, the bacterium enters the body and remains latent, or the person becomes ill with TB. About 90% of those infected with TB are asymptomatic with latent TB infections. The primary site for TB infection is in the lungs and may occur via infection from the blood stream. About 90% of TB is actually found in the lungs (Hayes).

Active TB is characterized by a persistent cough for more than 3 weeks, decreased appetite, general weakness, and profuse night sweats. Not everyone infected with TB bacteria becomes sick with it. Rather, the TB remains latent in the bodies of about 90 percent of those infected and they will not develop TB disease. People with latent TB do not spread TB to others and active tb you can spread it to others (Frith, 2014). Diagnosis for tb can be done through a skin test or chest x-ray. There are also vaccines and drugs for TB. TB can lie low inside a person for decades. An 80-year-old man suffering from active TB may have been infected as a child and may have come down with the disease only as his immune system weakened

Tuberculosis; often referred to as the silent killer, is a highly infectious disease that is contracted annually by 9.3 million individuals globally, and causes 1.8 million deaths. It’s high mortality rate led to the formation of the American Lung Association in the United States in 1904, after it was declared the leading cause of death during the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. The origin of tuberculosis is not certain; the first documented deaths were recorded in ancient Egypt and Greece, when it was known fittingly as “consumption”, coined for of its all-consuming nature. Today, tuberculosis is more of a problem in developing countries, but is still a threat in the United States. To take preventative measures to avoid contracting this deadly disease it is important to know the causes, life-cycle, how its diagnosed, interactions with the immune system, and public health actions to reduce risk of infection.Tuberculosis is a facultative intercellular bacterial parasite caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Mycobacteria are rod shaped in appearance and is a gram-positive bacterium. One characteristic unique to Mycobacteria is the addition to an extra layer beyond the thick peptidoglycan cell wall that is composed of lipids and polysaccharides; this gives M. tuberculosis a unique envelope that makes the cell have low permeability (advantage against the immune system). M. Tuberculosis doubles it’s population every 18-24 hours, which is considered

Air droplets are spread by someone who expels air whether that be through a cough, sneeze, or any other form of exhalation3. The droplets with the Mycobacterium Tuberculosis then have to be inhaled by an individual1. The chances of getting the disease through brief exposure are slim2. Tuberculosis is most likely to spread in an area like a hospital, communal living, or having a family member in the same house who has active Tuberculosis2. Once inhaled, the bacteria that make it past the mucous and cilia that are the first line of defense in the respiratory system are transferred down into the alveoli in the lungs2. There the bacteria meet the body’s immune system response and are phagocytized by white blood cells2. If the individual is immunocompromised with HIV, for example, they may not be able to mount a sufficient defense against the disease and will develop active Tuberculosis2. In most cases an individual without an immunosuppressive disease or disorder will be able to isolate the bacteria and become someone who has non-active, or what we call latent, Tuberculosis2.

Pulmonary tuberculosis is characterized by classical general symptoms such as night sweats, cough, coughing up with bloody sputum, weight loss, loss of appetite, weakness, inflammation of lymph nodes, fever, pneumonitis and chest pain (Davis, 2016). Mycobacterium leprae is an another common type of bacteria, which causes leprosy by showing symptoms of skin discoloration skin lesions skin nodules skin plaques thickened skin nasal congestion nosebleeds (Davis, 2016). Extra pulmonary tuberculosis have symptoms varies according to localized part of body get infected.Skeletal and arthritis TB (also termed Pott 's disease) shows spinal pain, back stiffness, pain in knees and hip joints while genitourinary TB includes dysuria, flank pain, Gastrointestinal TB shows difficulty in swallowing, nonhealing ulcers, abdominal ache, malabsorption, bloody diarrhea (may be bloody) while Miliary TB and Pleural TB shows many small nodules widespread in organs, empyema and pleural effusions (Davis 2016). Humans are sometimes susceptible to Mycobacterium bovis (M.bovis). Pulmonary Tuberculosis affects directly to lungs and occur most often in young kids who has weaken immune system by showing symptoms with a productive cough more than three weeks with high fever and chest pain which can easily spread to others as bacteria are growing rapidly while Extrapulmonary Tuberculosis does not affect to the lungs. (“Tuberculosis

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).