Signs & Symptoms of Mycobacterial Pneumonia

Mycobacterial pneumonia is an infectious and chronic kind of pneumonia. It is more prevalent among inner-city children. The pneumonia is a manifestation of an inner infection that attacks those with compromised immunity more easily. It is caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), which is also what causes tuberculosis. When TB is undetected or untreated for a long time, it develops into mycobacterial pneumonia. Therefore, mycobacterial pneumonia is referred to as tuberculosis pneumonia. When mycobacterium inhabits the body, the signs and symptoms are the same as TB. Until the end stages, it is not uncommon to mistake signs of one for another. Also, when MTB is destroyed, it can spread to other parts of the body, like the bones, intestines and even the liver, spleen and blood.

Long Term Symtpoms

• Mycobacterial pneumonia is a chronic form of MTB. This means that in most cases, patients have symptoms that last for many weeks and months. Since it is only in the late stages that mycobacterium causes TB to turn into pneumonia, the symptoms are difficult to distinguish from TB symptoms. Some of the most commonly reported cases of mycobacterial pneumonia thus exhibit symptoms that could be those of systemic failures such as weight loss, night sweats, high fever that does not subside with antipyretic medication and loss of appetite.

Late Stage Symptoms

• Mycobacterial pneumonia is an infection that primarily affects the lungs in the earlier stages and other organs later. Late-stage symptoms include shortness of breath and chronic cough. Extreme fatigue is another late-stage symptom, in part caused by the difficulty in breathing. Another of the symptoms of mycobacterial pneumonia includes hyperventilation, when the body is unable to release the amounts of carbon dioxide it has to during breathing. Since the lungs are unable to function normally during a mycobacterial infection, this can lead to related problems including panic, sleep disturbances, chest pains, palpitations and so on. Coughing up sputum or blood can be another sign of mycobacterial pneumonia.

Organ Failure Symptoms

• When mycobacterial pneumonia spreads to other organs over time, you may begin to show symptoms that are particular to those organs. These can easily be mistaken for other ailments peculiar to those organs. For example, if the bacteria spreads to the liver, you may begin to experience skin yellowing associated with jaundice. Bowel pain may also occur.