Tubercolosis

Tuberculosis is a common and deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Other mycobacteria such as Mycobacterium bovis, Mycobacterium africanum, Mycobacterium canetti, and Mycobacterium microti can also cause tuberculosis, but these species do not usually infect healthy adults.

The 75% of the cases of tubercolosis are pulmunary one. It features:

• chest pain
• coughing up blood
• a productive, prolonged cough for more than three weeks
• fever
• chills
• night sweats
• appetite loss
• weight loss
• pallor
• a tendency to fatigue very easily.

In the other 25% of active cases, the infection moves from the lungs, causing other kinds of TB more common in immunosuppressed persons and young children. Extrapulmonary infection sites include:

• the pleura
• the central nervous system in meningitis
• the lymphatic system in scrofula of the neck
• the genitourinary system in urogenital tuberculosis
• bones and joints in Pott's disease of the spine.

Although extrapulmonary TB is not contagious, it may co-exist with pulmonary TB, which is contagious through coughing, sneezing, speaking, kissing, and/or spittin
Transmission can only occur from people with active and not latent TB though.

About 90% of those infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis have asymptomatic, latent TB infection, with only a 10% lifetime chance that a latent infection will progress to TB disease. However, if untreated, the death rate for these active TB cases is more than 50%.

Tuberculosis can be a difficult disease to diagnose.
Currently, latent infection is diagnosed in a non-immunized person by a tuberculin skin test.

Progression from TB infection to TB disease occurs when the TB bacilli overcome the immune system defenses and begin to multiply. In 1 to 5% of cases the disease occurs soon after infection. However, in the majority of cases, a latent infection occurs that has no obvious symptoms.

Some other conditions can increase the risk of tubercolosis, such as:

• HIV infection
• drug injection
• chest X-ray
• diabetes mellitus
• silicosis
• prolonged corticosteroid therapy and other immunosuppressive therapy
• head and neck cancers
• hematologic and reticuloendothelial diseases, such as leukemia and Hodgkin's disease
• end-stage kidney disease
• intestinal bypass or gastrectomy
• chronic malabsorption syndromes
• low body weight.

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