Understanding Tuberculosis: A Comprehensive Guide

Dr.Parinita Kaur, 3 mins read

Understanding Tuberculosis: A Comprehensive Guide
Tuberculosis (TB) is a serious and infectious disease that primarily affects the lungs. This leads to problems like persistent cough, chest pain, fatigue, weight loss, and night sweats.

The condition is both curable and preventable. However, it’s a must to get proper treatment. Otherwise, it can worsen the symptoms and overall health.

It’s important to note that once the bacteria enter the body, they remain dominant for years before becoming active and causing symptoms.

Symptoms
The symptoms vary with the stage of TB. There are four stages or types of tuberculosis.

Primary TB: It is the first stage where the immune system captures the invaders and attacks them. But some germs still survive and multiply. Most people don’t notice any symptoms. Those who notice generally experience flu-like symptoms such as fever, tiredness and cough.

Latent TB infection: The next stage to primary TB where bacteria are present in the body but do not cause any symptoms. The immune system has control over germs. However, the infection can become active at any time, leading to the development of TB disease.

Active TB disease: Usually, it happens after latent TB. Sometimes it may also occur after primary TB. When the immune system loses control over the germs surrounding the lungs, TB becomes active. This leads to symptoms like coughing up blood/mucus, fever, chills, chest pain, difficulty breathing, night sweats, weight loss and weakness.

Note: Latent and active TB can also be drug-resistant, meaning certain medications do not work against them.

Active TB disease outside the lungs (extrapulmonary tuberculosis): In this stage or type, the TB spreads to other parts of the body like kidneys, liver, genitals, bones and heart muscles, among others. This can cause symptoms like fever, chills, night sweats, weight loss, tiredness and pain near the site of infection.

Causes
Tuberculosis is caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The bacteria spread through the air when an infected person coughs, sneezes and spits. Factors such as weak immune systems, close contact with an infected person, and living in crowded or unsanitary conditions increase the risk of contracting TB.

Diagnosis
The condition can be diagnosed using a combination of physical examination, medical history and diagnostic tests. These tests may include chest X-ray, sputum test, tuberculin skin test, blood test and urine test. In some cases, more advanced tests such as CT scans and bronchoscopy may be required to confirm the diagnosis.

Treatment
A doctor usually recommends a combination of antibiotics. These medications may need to be taken for at least six months and sometimes more, depending on the type and location of TB. The most common antibiotics used to treat TB include isoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide. Please keep in mind to not take any medication without a prescription. It’s important to complete the full course of treatment to ensure that the infection is completely eradicated and to prevent the development of drug-resistant strains of TB.