What is Tuberculois (TB)?

Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or Tuberculosis) is a common and deadly bacterial infection caused by mycobacteria, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis most commonly attacks the lungs as pulmonary TB but it can also affect the central nervous system (brain), the lymphatic system (lymph nodes), the circulatory system (heart), the genitourinary system (kidneys), bones, joints and even the skin. 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.

TB has been a serious public health concern for a long time now. Back in the 1800s, this disease was responsible for over 30% of all deaths in Europe. With the advent of anti-tuberculosis medications in the 1940s, the fight to eradicate tuberculosis seemed to have been won. Unfortunately, due to other contributing factors such as a shortage of public health resources, reduced immune response due to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or AIDS, drug resistance development, and extreme poverty in different parts of the world, tuberculosis continues to be a deadly disease. Around the world, there are 8 million new cases of symptomatic tuberculosis and 3 million deaths from this disease every year. It is believed that a third of all the world's population have a dormant (latent) tuberculosis infection, although only about five to ten percent of that statistic progress to active tuberculosis disease. The World Health Organization predicts that if left unchecked, TB will kill 35 million people in the world over the next 20 years.

How is this disease passed on?

TB is transmitted from person to person, usually by inhaling bacteria carried along in air droplets. When a person with TB coughs, sneezes, or speaks, small particles that carry two to three moisture-coated bacteria are released in the air. When another person inhales these particles, the bacteria may lodge in that person's lungs and multiply. Persons with long-term, constant, or intense contact to people with tuberculosis are at highest risk of becoming infected with an estimated 22 percent infection rate.

A less common means of bacteria transmission is through the skin. Doctors and laboratory technicians who deal with TB specimens may contract the disease through accidental pricking of infected needles or direct specimen contact on skin wounds. TB has also been reported in people who have received tattoos and people who have been circumcised with unsterilized instruments.

It usually passes from person to person through watery airborne droplets of coughs, and in the mucus that infected persons cough up from their throats. About one third of the world's people (including 10 to 20 million in the US) have been infected with TB. The incidence of childhood TB increased by 40% in a 6 year period (1987 to 1993) in the US as a result of poverty, immigration and HIV infection.

What symptoms should I watch out for?

The initial onset of tuberculosis may be symptom-free, or the individual may just experience flu-like symptoms. In the secondary stage, also called the active disease, sufferers might manifest a slight fever, night sweating, weight loss, fatigue and various other symptoms, depending on the body part affected. Pulmonary tuberculosis is usually associated with having a dry cough that eventually leads to a productive cough with bloodstained sputum. There might also be chronic pain in the chest and shortness of breath. This secondary stage, if affecting the lungs, is the contagious stage. This is when the bacteria can be spread to others.

Is there a cure for tuberculosis?

Doctors will need to gather a thorough medical background and perform multiple tests in order to detect if you are indeed infected with the virus. Medications may be prescribed depending on the type of tuberculosis you have. However, for severe cases of infection, surgery might be required to either introduce air into the chest to collapse the lung, or removal of a part of or the entire affected lung.

Don't take your body for granted. After all, we only have one body to use for what little time we have to live. Considering that the environment we live in isn't as clean as it used to be, and that more and more diseases are getting discovered every day, it ought to be up to us to take care of our own health.