Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis is a chronic infectious disease that affects the lymphatic and immune system, characterized by the formation of tubercles (neoplasms) and a rich clinical picture.
The more ancient name of the disease is consumption. The problems of tuberculosis are dealt with by the science of phthisiology. The main goal of phthisiology is prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of various forms of tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis is a very ancient disease, but it was only in 1882 that it was discovered because of what this disease arises. In 1882, Robert Koch discovered a bacterium – Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is also called Koch’s bacillus.
Despite the fact that tuberculosis is not a highly contagious disease, more and more people are susceptible to infection. The development of the disease depends on many factors – the duration of contact with a sick person, the degree of infection, the degree of immunity and many other factors. The risk groups include socially unfavorable strata of society – homeless people, alcoholics, people living in unfavorable living conditions, HIV-infected people. The most common way of infection is airborne, and the form of tuberculosis is pulmonary. However, there is also a food route of infection. So you can get infected with bovine tuberculosis pathogen through cow’s milk. The penetration of a microorganism that causes tuberculosis does not mean that the disease will develop and enter the active phase.
Symptoms
The most common form of tuberculosis is pulmonary tuberculosis. Pulmonary tuberculosis can be primary and secondary. Primary pulmonary tuberculosis – as a rule, develops in children of preschool and primary school age. The younger the age of Rebekah, the more severe tuberculosis is. This is due to gross violations of the functioning of the immune system. In primary pulmonary tuberculosis, primary granulomas (tubercules) are formed. In some cases, they heal on their own, leaving scar tissue in the lungs. In other cases, the inflammatory process is delayed, spreads to the surrounding tissues, the central part of the granuloma disintegrates, forming a cavity – hole. From the lungs, microorganisms can get into any part of the body by hematogenic means and tubercles – tuberculous tubercles – can form in any organs and tissues.
Secondary tuberculosis is characteristic of adults, as it implies a childhood infection. At the beginning of the development of the disease, there are almost no symptoms, or they hide under the mask of other somatic diseases – SARS, influenza, mononucleosis and others.
The first symptoms are nonspecific:
Night sweating – profuse sweat
Increased body temperature for unexplained reasons for a long time
Loss of appetite and weight loss up to 5-8% of body weight
Constant malaise, fatigue, weakness, weakness
Soon there is a cough – first a dry cough (frequent), then a dry cough. After some time, the cough becomes with sputum, which is first serous in nature, and then purulent
Further, more specific symptoms develop (the disease enters the peak stage):
sputum with streaks of blood
Hemoptysis
Pulmonary hemorrhage
Chest pains
Shortness of breath
Respiratory failure
Sometimes tuberculosis develops completely without showing symptoms and is detected only on radiography randomly.
Diagnostics
When making a diagnosis of tuberculosis , the following studies are carried out:
Fluorography
Mantoux Test
Diaskin test
Sputum culture to determine sensitivity to drugs (very long – up to 3-4 weeks, since mycobacteria grow very slowly on nutrient media)
Treatment
Primary pulmonary tuberculosis in children is treated strictly in stationary conditions. After determining the sensitivity to antibacterial drugs and assessing the risk for the child, anti-tuberculosis drugs are selected. The big disadvantage of these drugs is that many of them are toxic to a child’s immature body. The main drugs are Isoniazid, rifampicin, Ethambutol, streptomycin.
The second problem in the treatment of tuberculosis is the numerous resistance of mycobacteria to drugs. The resistance of bacteria can be to one or two drugs of the complex or to all at once. This significantly complicates the entire process of tuberculosis treatment.
The drugs are prescribed in long courses for several months. In case of a successful medical stage, rehabilitation treatment in sanatoriums follows.
Complications
Pneumothorax
pulmonary hemorrhage
The spread of infection throughout the body and the development of miliary tuberculosis
Chronic respiratory failure
Amyloidosis
Heart failure
