Tuberculosis information is needy to know, although significant progress has been made in its control and treatment, it still remains a public health problem in many countries around the world. TB is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which usually affects the lungs, although it can affect other organs as well.
Tuberculosis information: Facts that you really need to know
It is necessary to put into practice the habits of research and deep study, to learn about the deadly diseases that have occurred around the world for many years, millions of years, rather. It is absolutely essential that tuberculosis information be obtained for several reasons, firstly, because, even in the middle of 2023, it continues to be a leading disease on the lists of the most viral and deadly in the world, especially in very low-income and middle-income countries. The World Health Organization, in 2019 registered approximately 10,000,000 updated cases increasing worldwide, and 1.4 million deaths thanks to this disease.
Second, tuberculosis is a fairly contagious disease, which can be easily transmitted through the air. Therefore, it is important to know tuberculosis information to learn how it is spread and how to prevent it. Thirdly, the disease can affect anyone, with no discrimination based on race, age, sex or culture.
But some people are at higher risk of contracting the disease, such as those with weakened immune systems, such as people with HIV/AIDS, the elderly, and children. This is why knowing the symptoms of tuberculosis and seeking early medical attention if an infection is suspected is the most efficient thing you can do to protect your integrity and physical well-being, as well as that of your family, friends, and other people who live with you or around you.
Fourthly, tuberculosis is a curable disease if it is detected and treated early with appropriate medicines. However, TB treatment can be long and expensive, and can have serious side effects. Therefore, it is important to know how tuberculosis is treated and how adherence to treatment can be improved to ensure its effectiveness.
At the epidemiological and historical level, what kind of tuberculosis information should we know?
Receiving tuberculosis information at an epidemiological and historical level is essential, since this way we can know greatly how this great health problem that has spanned the world for many years is distributed, ending the lives of millions of people since time immemorial. In the 19th century, the causes of this disease and its spread were still unknown. In fact, many people in ancient times considered it as a kind of “curse”, or associated it with some kind of “sorcery” that was thrown at the affected person.
This and some others are part of those myths that, in reality, were just that over time. There is still the idea that tuberculosis only remains in developing countries, when in truth, the incidence of TB has increased considerably throughout the world, that is why the knowledge about tuberculosis information.
It was in 1839, when Johann Lukas Schönlein, a professor of medicine in Zurich, first proposed the term “Tuberculosis”. Then, some time later, in 1865, he proved that TB was contagious. Robert Koch, for his part, in 1882 discovered the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, using Ziehl-Neelsen staining to observe Koch’s bacilli, thus, in this way, he discovered that these were Gram variables, and that is why they could not be previously discovered, since other scientists could have seen them, but not taken into account, because many times they could be seen in the stain, and many other times not. They are relevant data to know about tuberculosis information.
Creation of the vaccine
It was not until 1921 that Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin created the vaccine against Tuberculosis, providing the world with a great contribution, and perhaps one of the best advances in history, contributing to the sanitary control of the disease, preventing more deaths. However, each year, there are around .5 million new cases, and 3 million patients die annually from this infection. More about tuberculosis information.
What are the types of tuberculosis and its symptoms?
In the first place, we have the Primary infection, which, in many cases, evolves without symptoms and disappears without the patient really noticing, or realizing it. It is slightly more common in infants. In case of presenting some type of clinic, it usually does so as a febrile syndrome with slight affectation of the general condition. A slightly more severe picture can also occur with high fever, weight loss and extrapulmonary involvement. Most cases go unnoticed, being confused with a “little flu”, or being diagnosed later when the tuberculin test becomes positive, or in a further and even more real case, by observing small lung scars on a chest x-ray. This is why it is necessary to know tuberculosis information.
With post-primary tuberculosis, this being a little more severe, the disease has been caused by the reactivation of Koch’s bacilli that have remained latent in lymph nodes, as well as in other organs, such as the lungs, since the primary infection occurs. Certainly, it can occur in any other organ, but its most frequent location is the lungs, reaching 80%.
On the other hand, pulmonary tuberculosis can appear with a somewhat insidious onset with productive cough, asthenia and sweating of months of evolution or with an acute onset with cough, hemoptysis (blood in sputum) and high fever. The most punctual and characteristic symptom is cough, which is sometimes accompanied by expectoration. As tuberculosis information, we can contribute that it is not uncommon for it to be associated with pleural involvement, even when it manifests in young patients with acute onset of pleural pain and febrile syndrome.
Tuberculosis information: Extrapulmonary
- Miliary tuberculosis (by hematogenous spread): this serotype is produced when Koch’s bacillus spreads and travels to other organs through the blood. It is usually a picture of weeks of evolution of fever, night sweats and constitutional syndrome, with slight appearance of lymphadenopathy and skin lesions. It is not very frequent, that is why we must obtain tuberculosis information, and know that this usually occurs in people with depressed immunity.
- Bone tuberculosis: it is the affectation of the vertebral bodies mainly producing pain at the level of the affected intervertebral disc, statistically this is moderately frequent.
- Genitourinary tuberculosis: It is usually asymptomatic. He may present voiding syndrome (dysuria or discomfort when urinating, urgency, low back pain) and a typical general picture such as fever, asthenia, and anorexia.
- Meningeal tuberculosis: The patient reports a general picture of fever and asthenia with subsequent appearance of headache, neck stiffness, intracranial hypertension and some neurological focal signs.
Receiving tuberculosis information: How is tuberculosis diagnosed and treated?
The most accurate test is the tuberculin test (PPD) or Mantoux test, which consists of injecting into the subcutaneous tissue an extract that contains antigens of the Koch bacillus, but not the entire bacillus, so it cannot cause infection (Important fact in tuberculosis information).
If a person has antibodies against the bacillus, he will have a skin reaction in 2–3 days at the inoculation site, characterized by induration, erythema, and heat. If this reaction occurs, it means that the patient has possibly been in contact with the bacillus at some point in his life.
This does not indicate that an infection exists at the time of the test, but if the clinical circumstances are appropriate, it may help to establish the baseline diagnosis.
The diagnosis of certainty is made with the isolation and identification of the bacillus through culture media.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a slow-growing bacillus, and may take up to 8 weeks to develop in these culture media. For immediate identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, specific staining media (Ziehl-Neelsen or aura mine) are used for samples in which infection is suspected.
Staining techniques are not very sensitive, so when no bacilli are observed in a sample, but clinical suspicion is high, treatment is indicated until culture results are available (up to 8 weeks).
We let you know that:
This type of diagnostic test must be carried out in Biosafety level 3 (BL3) laboratories, which allow the proper management of biological agents such as tuberculosis. In this laboratory, their isolation, culture and study of the sensitivity to anti-infective agents are achieved, which will allow the most appropriate treatment to be established.
