Still on Tuberculosis: anyone can get infected...

oluwambe (49)in #health • 8 years ago (edited)

From my last post, i have taken my time to explain what Tuberculosis is all about and had also ensured some of our misconceptions about TB are stated so as to have a better understanding.

Today, i want to continue from where i stopped and educate us on the alarming rate at which TB can get to you if not curbed in any part of the world

Kindly take your time to read....

Firstly, let me quickly take you through some misconceptions about TB again because i might refer to it again later in my post

Common Misconceptions about TB especially in the developing countries are;

It is caused by witchcraft
It is a curse from the gods
It is not curable
It can be cured by spiritual leaders
It is hereditary
Everyone that has TB has HIV

This believe is alarming, did you know why? This is because

Therefore, all hands need to be on deck inorder to work together no matter your kind of profession and spread this awareness

But if you are still not convinced about why we need you on this awareness mission, let me brief you on how you can get infected with TB

Transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

The most important source of Mycobaterium tb. is a bacteriologically positive pulmonary TB.
Infection of a susceptible individual occurs when s/he inhales droplets of respiratory secretions (droplet nuclei) containing M. tb.
These droplets are released into the air by an infectious patient when s/he coughs, sneezes, spits, sings or talks.
An infectious, untreated pulmonary TB patient will infect an average of 10-15 people every year.

Now, let me talk about theses stages of TB diseases:

Progressive Primary TB Disease

Arises when the primary complex progresses rapidly (within months) to clinically symptomatic TB disease often due to very suppressed immunity in about 5% of cases
Clinical manifestations depends on the primary mode of spread
Progressive primary disease is a very serious condition that is invariably fatal if not treated promptly.

Post-primary TB disease

Occurs after a latent period following TB infection due to a gradual weakening of the immunity
Majority of cases arise from reactivation of dormant M. tb following a primary infection, some may also arise from a re-infection.
It usually involves the lungs through local spread but can also involve other parts of the body through haematogenous spread.
Patients with these lesions are the main transmitters of infection

I am grateful for your attention, i understand that some of the scientific terms might get you bored, just try to get
get the message i am trying to pass across.

Or, maybe i should stop here for now for you to take your time to read, but let me quickly take you through the the potential risk for you to be infected with TB disease

Risk factors for developing TB disease …

Risk of exposure:
An untreated or improperly treated pulmonary TB patient especially, bacteriologically positive pulmonary TB patient (the source).
The duration of contact with an untreated or improperly treated pulmonary TB patient
Poor ventilation
Over crowding
Risk of infection:
Duration of exposure of an individual to a source
Susceptibility of the individual to infection with M. tuberculosis
Infectious dose of M. tuberculosis inhaled by the individual
Virulence of the strains of M. tuberculosis
Risk of progression of TB infection to TB disease:
Greatest shortly after infection and gradually reduces with time.
The 10% of infected individuals who eventually develop TB disease do so largely because of weakening immune resistance:
HIV infection esp. not on ART and/or IPT.
Extremes of age (Young children and the elderly)
Chronic systemic illnesses like diabetes mellitus
Prolonged intake of steroids
Use of cytotoxic drugs
Chronic alcoholism
Malnutrition
Chronic lung diseases such as asbestosis & silicosis.