Tuberculosis: Causes and treatment
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Advertisement
TB primarily affects the lungs, but it can also affect organs in the central nervous system, the lymphatic system, and the circulatory system, among others.
Tuberculosis spreads by droplet infection. This type of transmission means that when a TB patient exhales, coughs, or sneezes, tiny droplets of fluid containing tubercle bacilli are released into the air.
This mist or aerosol, as it is often called, can go into the nasal passages and lungs of a susceptible person nearby.
TB is not passed on by contact with a patient's clothing, bed linens, or dishes and cooking utensils. The most important exception is pregnancy. The foetus of an infected mother may contract TB by inhaling or swallowing the bacilli in the amniotic fluid.
These bacteria were first identified in 1882 by Robert Koch who described their appearance under the microscope as rod-shaped germs or bacilli. Tuberculosis can also afflict cattle, where the infection is caused by a similar type of bacterium called Mycobacterium bovis.
Infected person
When a person becomes infected with TB, the bacteria in the lungs multiply causing pneumonia; the patient experiences chest pain and has a persistent cough which is often blood stained.
In addition, lymph nodes near the heart and lungs become enlarged. As the bacteria try to spread to other parts of the body they are interrupted by the body's immune system.
Other Trending Stories
The immune system forms a scar tissue or fibrosis around the bacterium, which helps fight the infection and prevents it from spreading within the body and to other people.
If the bacteria manage to break through the scar tissue, the disease returns to an active state; pneumonia develops and there is damage to kidneys, bones, and the meninges that line the spinal cord and brain.
TB is generally classified as being either latent or active.
• Latent TB: The bacteria are inactive but present in the body. The patient has no symptoms and is not contagious.
• Active TB: The bacteria are active and make the patient ill. Active TB is contagious.
Misconceptions, stigmatisation and humiliation
As a result of misconceptions, stigmatisation and humiliation associated with the disease, patients are reluctant to seek early and appropriate health care.
People who cough for more than two weeks need to visit a health facility for screening to ensure that TB cases were not missed subsequently.
Although not all HIV positive persons have TB, a recent survey has identified HIV as a driving force responsible for the escalation in the TB epidemic.
Symptoms of TB include: Coughing for more than two weeks, coughing up blood, sudden loss of weight and appetite, sweating at night and usually feeling tired and pain in the chest.
Health experts say TB could be cured under every circumstance and, therefore, early medical attention must be sought.
World TB day
March 24 is observed as World TB day and the theme for this year’s celebration was, “Reaching the missed TB cases”.
The Minister of Health, Madam Sherry Ayittey, launching the 2014 world TB day, said apart from the disease being preventable and curable, its treatment was absolutely free locally.
Advertisement
According to her, to ensure that Ghana’s target of zero tuberculosis (TB) death and infections by 2035 was achieved, the Ministry of Health has initiated the development of a post-2015 new national strategic plan for eradicating TB.
Madam Ayittey said TB was a highly infectious and air borne disease, adding that institutions prone to overcrowding such as the prisons and some educational and health facilities should be considered in the fight against TB.