Tuberculosis

By Theodore Sauyet

History

• May have been around since 4000 B.C.

• In the 16 hundreds, exact descriptions began to appear.

• Sylvius wrote Opera Medica in 1679, which identified TB (Tuberculosis) as a consistent change in the lungs and other areas in people infected by TB.

Symtoms

• Loss of weight, energy, appetite

• Fever

• Cough

• Night Sweats

What is really dangerous, is that you only develop these symptoms when the disease is quite advanced. Also, all of these, or even a combination of these, could easily be blamed on another disease.

How it works

• Always passed from person to person.• Just talking can pass it on.• Eventually, infected particles reach the alveoli, small structures

within the lungs, the particles are engulfed by another cell, and transmitted to the bloodstream.

• It then spreads to other organs.• The bacteria multiply in organs with a lot of oxygen, notably the

kidneys, bone marrow, and meninges, or membrane-like coverings of the brain and spinal cord.

• Once it can be revealed by a clinic, you have officially have TB.

How the doctors know you have it

• A chest X-Ray will lead to suspicion of infection in the chest.

• Around the lungs, in an X-Ray, abnormality will occur around the middle and lower lungs.

• Another common way is a skin test, they will inject “5 units of purified protein derivative,” and if a raised bump on the skin arises within 48 hours, you may have TB.

Causes

• Always passed from person to person, via external solution.

• If someone sitting next to you, infected with TB, coughed, sneezed, or even talked, tiny infected droplets of saliva or mucus could get expelled into the air, and you could inhale them, getting the disease.

As you can see, the disease is very contagious.

Cures

• You usually don’t need to go to the hospital, or even get surgery.

• Typical treatment involves therapy for six to nine months.

• You will also have to take several drugs to reduce the chance of a resistant stream emerging.

Treatment takes that long because it dies very slowly

Why Treatment fails

• This treatment fails most often because people don’t take their medicine as prescribed. This can lead to resistant streams arising, which can spell death for you.

• To counter this, the doctors have had patients come into their office for treatment twice a week or so.

Credits

• tuberculosis.com

• emedicinehealth.com