Diagnosis of Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection caused by the germ Mycobacterium tuberculosis. An airborne germ, TB is spread when someone who has the active disease talks, coughs or sneezes. TB affects the lungs and can affect other parts of the body. Anyone can get TB, but it is often found in people with weakened immune systems or are in otherwise poor health, children, HIV patients, and people living in crowded conditions where it can be easily spread. Untreated, TB is deadly. A person with active tuberculosis infects 10 to 15 people a year. An estimated 9 million new cases of tuberculosis are diagnosed each year.

How is Tuberculosis Diagnosed?

• Tuberculin skin tests or PPD tests are done on the arm by injecting some of the bacterium under the skin. If there is a response, the skin will swell to a certain size and turn red. This determines whether the person has been exposed to the disease or was given a vaccine for it--which is done in certain parts of the world--or currently has the disease. If there is a skin response, a chest Xray is done to check for spots on the lungs. Tuberculosis has an incubation period of two to 12 weeks. That means that it can show on the skin test two to 12 weeks after exposure.

Ty pes

• There are two forms of tuberculosis, the infection and the disease. A person can have a TB infection but not have the active disease. This happens when someone is exposed to the disease but it does not become active in their body. Because it is inactive or latent, it is not contagious and there are no symptoms. This fools people into believing they do not need treatment. It is necessary for a person with a tuberculosis infection to get treatment because the infection can become active at any time. Treatment prevents the infection from becoming the disease. A person with the TB infection can get a cold or flu that weakens their immune system and allows the TB to become active. Tuberculosis the disease means that it is active in the body and highly contagious. Symptoms of active TB are cough, mucus, coughing up blood, night sweats, fatigue, fever, chills, and weight loss.

  Tuberculosis becomes the active disease in the body two ways. The first is if the tuberculosis infection goes untreated and converts to the disease. The second is when the initial exposure causes the disease.

Treatment

• The treatment for a TB infection involves taking the medication Isoniazid for six to nine months. This prevents the disease from becoming active. It is necessary to complete the medication treatment even though there are no symptoms. Taking and finishing all medication prevents the TB from becoming drug resistant. The drug resistant treatment lasts two years.

  Treatment for TB, the disease, involves taking a combination of four medications. Isoniazid, Rifampin or Rifadin, Ethambutol or Myambutol, and Pyrazinamide. The Ethambutol is not for use in children and the Pyrazinamide is not for use during pregnancy. When treating the active TB disease the treatment and medication vary depending on the location of the disease in the body, the age and general health of the patient, and the response to treatment. Finishing all treatment is necessary. Because the medication for treating TB is toxic, close monitoring is needed during treatment.

Warning

• Tuberculosis is a deadly disease if it is not treated. Starting but not finishing treatment causes the germ to become resistant to treatment. This changes the treatment from six to nine months to two years. The body may not respond to treatment once the disease becomes resistant.

Famous Ties

• These are a few of the famous people who have had tuberculosis:

  Eleanor Roosevelt
  Cat Stevens
  Edgar Allen Poe
  Henry David Thoreau
  Frederic Chopin
  John Keats