Pulmonary tuberculosis is a scientific name of TB disease.
Definition of Pulmonary tuberculosis:
Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is a contagious bacterial infection that involves the lungs, but may spread to other organs.
Causes, incidence, and risk factors:
(TB) is caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis. You can get TB by breathing in air droplets from a cough or sneeze of an infected person. This is called primary TB.
The infection may stay asleep or inactive (dormant) for years. However, in some people it can reactivate.
Most people who develop symptoms of a TB infection first became infected in the past. However, in some cases, the disease may become active within weeks after the primary infection.
The following people are at higher risk for active TB:
Elderly
Infants and
People with weakened immune systems, for example due to AIDS, chemotherapy, diabetes, or certain medications
Your risk of contracting TB increases if you:
Are in frequent contact with people who have TB
Have poor nutrition
Live in crowded or unsanitary living conditions
The following factors may increase the rate of TB infection in a population:
Increase in HIV infections
Increase in number of homeless people (poor environment and nutrition)
The appearance of drug-resistant strains of TB
Symptoms:
The primary stage of TB usually doesn't cause symptoms. When symptoms of pulmonary TB occur, they may include:
Cough (usually cough up mucus)
Coughing up blood
Excessive sweating, especially at night
Fatigue
Fever
Unintentional weight loss
Other symptoms that may occur with this disease:
Breathing difficulty
Chest pain
Wheezing
Signs and tests:
Treatment :
The goal of treatment is to cure the infection with drugs that fight the TB bacteria. Treatment of active pulmonary TB will always involve a combination of many drugs (usually four drugs).
You may need to take many different pills at different times of the day for 6 months or longer. It is very important that you take the pills the way your health care provider instructed.
When people do not take their TB medications as recommended, the infection becomes much more difficult to treat. The TB bacteria may become resistant to treatment, and sometimes, the drugs no longer help treat the infection.
When there is a concern that a patient may not take all the medication as directed, a health care provider may need to watch the person take the prescribed drugs. You may need to be admitted to a hospital for 2 - 4 weeks to avoid spreading the disease to others until you are no longer contagious.
Complications :
Pulmonary TB can cause permanent lung damage if not treated early.
Medicines used to treat TB may cause side effects, including liver problems. Other side effects include:
Changes in vision
Orange- or brown-colored tears and urine
Rash
Prevention:
TB is a preventable disease, even in those who have been exposed to an infected person. Skin testing (PPD) for TB is used in high risk populations or in people who may have been exposed to TB, such as health care workers.
A positive skin test indicates TB exposure and an inactive infection. People who have been exposed to TB should be skin tested immediately and have a follow-up test at a later date, if the first test is negative.
Prompt treatment is extremely important in controlling the spread of TB from those who have active TB disease to those who have never been infected with TB.
Some countries with a high incidence of TB give people a BCG vaccination to prevent TB.
People who have had BCG may still be skin tested for TB.
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