Tuberculosis (TB) preventive drive

What is Tuberculosis?

Tuberculosis  or TB is commonly called a contagious infection that usually affects and attacks the lungs. It also tends to spread to other parts of the body, such as the brain and spine. This deadly disease is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. A person with infectious tuberculosis can infect up to 10–15 other people per year. But with timely diagnosis and treatment, most of these patients are no longer infectious after just two weeks of taking the medication. 

Stages of  Tuberculosis

Due to our Immune System, which can prevent us from being sick from the bacteria of TB within our body, Tuberculosis have two stages

•  Latent TB - We have a TB infection, but the bacteria in our body are inactive and cause no symptoms. But it can turn into active TB.

• Active TB - Also called TB disease, this condition makes you sick and, in most cases, can spread to others. It can occur weeks or years after infection with the TB bacteria.

Sign or Symptoms of Tuberculosis

Symptoms of TB depend on where in the body the TB bacteria are growing. TB bacteria usually grow in the lungs (which is known as pulmonary TB). For such case, people can witness symptoms such as,

• a bad cough that lasts 3 weeks or longer
• pain in the chest
• coughing up blood or sputum (phlegm from deep inside the lungs)

Other symptoms of Tuberculosis are

• weakness or fatigue
• weight loss
• no appetite
• chills
• fever
• sweating at night

Symptoms of TB disease in other parts of the body (also known as Extrapulmonary TB) depend on the area affected.

What causes Tuberculosis?

Mycobacterium 

The main cause of TB is Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) is a small, aerobic, nonmotile bacillus. The high lipid content of this pathogen accounts for many of its unique clinical characteristics. It divides every 16 to 20 hours, which is an extremely slow rate compared with other bacteria, which usually divide in less than an hour.

Transmission 

When people with active pulmonary TB cough, sneeze, speak, sing, or spit, they expel infectious aerosol droplets 0.5 to 5.0 µm in diameter. A single sneeze can release up to 40,000 droplets. Each one of these droplets may transmit the disease, since the infectious dose of tuberculosis is very small.

Tuberculosis Prevention

As with all health conditions, prevention of TB is always better than a cure. Although there is no sure-fire way to completely prevent the spread of TB at this point in time, there are a number of measures that can be put in place to reduce the spread of the illness.

• The BCG Vaccination - The BCG (Bacille Calmette-Guérin) is a live vaccine against tuberculosis. The vaccine is prepared from a strain of the weakened bovine tuberculosis bacillus, Mycobacterium bovis. The BCG is currently the only licensed vaccine against TB, and has been in use since 1921. It is one of the most widely used vaccines worldwide.
• Early Diagnosis - Early diagnosis and treatment is the most effective way to prevent the spread of tuberculosis. A person with infectious tuberculosis can infect up to 10–15 other people per year. But once diagnosed with TB, and started on treatment, the majority of patients are no longer infectious after just two weeks of taking the medication
• Managing our Environment - As TB is an airborne infection, TB bacteria are released into the air when someone with infectious TB coughs or sneezes. The risk of infection can be reduced by using a few simple precautions such as good ventilation, obtaining natural light or by maintaining good hygiene
• A healthy immune system - Having a healthy immune system is the best form of defence against TB: 60% of adults with a healthy immune system can completely kill TB bacteria.

Conclusion

Tuberculosis can be controlled if appropriate policies are followed, effective clinical and public health management is ensured, and there are committed and co-ordinated efforts from within and outside the health sector. However, in the context of a large epidemic of AIDS, TB incidence will inevitably increase. By 2001, less than 30% of global TB cases were reported to have received effective diagnosis, treatment and monitoring. Rapid expansion of effective TB control services is urgently required, both to avert the continued high burden of morbidity and mortality from TB and because of the HIV pandemic.