Facts About Tuberculosis – Is There A Cure For Tuberculosis in 2024?

After facing the Pandemic we are all well aware of the term infection. A vast category of infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and many more are living together with us and some of them harm us very dangerously. 

We are going to share a piece of detailed information about such an infectious disease called TB or some facts about Tuberculosis every common man should know. Tuberculosis is the 2nd most leading infectious death-causing disease after the Covid-19.

Facts About Tuberculosis

TB is caused by a bacteria named Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, which mainly affects the lungs but can also affect other organs such as kidneys, spine, bones, abdomen, and rarely heart. This disease is transmissible means can transfer from one person to another through microdroplets produced by coughing and sneezing. 

Note: When Tuberculosis affects an organ outside the lungs then this kind of Tuberculosis is known as Extra-Pulmonary Tuberculosis.

We will cover almost all the facts about Tuberculosis. Let’s start with the symptoms of TB.

Tuberculosis Symptoms

• Coughing from 3 or more than 3 weeks.
• Blood with cough.
• Unintentional Weight loss.
• Pain in coughing and breathing.
• Night sweats
• Fatigue 
• Fever 
• Loss of appetite/hunger

Latent TB

The infection of tuberculosis can occur in two stages explained below:At the latent Tuberculosis infection stage Mycobacterium tuberculosis is present in an inactive condition. latent Tuberculosis infection does not cause fatal harm to patients and also does not spread from one patient to another person but still, treatment is necessary. The doctors suggest patients start a proper medication, despite, latent Tuberculosis infection can be a stage up and get active if the proper medication does not acquire by patients

Active TB

In Active TB the disease-causing bacteria is active and can harm you very badly. This is also transmissible and hard to cure. The symptoms of Tuberculosis are already mentioned above.

Targeted Organs of Tuberculosis/ Types of Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis causing agents Mycobacterium tuberculosis mainly target the lungs of the host body. Which ultimately leads to difficulty in breathing or painful breathing and coughing. But sometimes the bacteria target other organs and affect them. Due to this, a person can get the following types of tuberculosis.

Spinal Tuberculosis

The other name of Spinal Tuberculosis is Pott’s disease. In spinal Tuberculosis patient’s spinal cord becomes the target organ and gets affected very badly. The patient may paralyze from Spinal Tuberculosis. But the infected one does not need any surgical operation to cure Spinal Tuberculosis because non-surgical treatment is available for Spinal Tuberculosis.

Kidney Tuberculosis

Kidney Tuberculosis is also known as Renal TB. Kidney tuberculosis is uncommon, the good part is that kidney tuberculosis is curable, and can treat very easily.

Tuberculosis of the Bone

When the Mycobacterium tuberculosis travels through the body there is a possibility of tuberculosis of the bone. Tuberculosis of the bone majorly involves the spine and joint. Tuberculosis of the bone ultimately leads to the deformity of the bones. If the tuberculosis of the bone gets detected early then it is absolutely curable.

Abdominal Tuberculosis

Abdominal Tuberculosis includes the infection in the abdominal organs such as the gastrointestinal tract, peritoneum etcetera. And Abdominal Tuberculosis is also curable. 

Cardiac Tuberculosis

If the heart also gets affected by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis it is called Cardiac Tuberculosis. In most treated cases Cardiac Tuberculosis is also curable.

TB and HIV

If a person is already infected with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Syndrome) the chances of severe TB can increases.

Because HIV  leads to AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) in which the immunity of infected ones is reduced very severely and the body could not fight against the tuberculosis-causing agent. So HIV and TB can very dangerous together.

Causes

• Living In Certain Countries – In Asia, Eastern Europe, Russia, Africa, and Latin America, tuberculosis is so common, so if you use to live or travel in these certain areas then there is a chance to be infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
• By living in contact with someone who is already infected with TB – If you used to live in contact with a TB patient then you might also get infected with TB. Because when an infected one coughs or sneezes, micro water droplets produce in which the bacteria may present. So the TB is a contagious infectious disease that spreads through the air.
• Drugs and Alcohol – Consuming Intravenous drugs and alcohols ultimately leads to a weaker immune system which makes you more permeable for tuberculosis.
• Tobacco – Tobacco also risks you more vulnerable to getting tuberculosis.
• Residential care facility averages – In the areas like nursing homes, prisons,and homeless shelters the chances of getting tuberculosis are higher because of lack of cleanliness and overcrowding. 

Treatment 

We are sharing some drugs names which are often used for the treatment of tuberculosis.

Here are the names:

• Rifampin (Rifadin, Rimactane)
• Isoniazid.
• Ethambutol (Myambutol)
• Pyrazinamide.

How Is Tuberculosis Prevented

With the medications, preventions can also help to recover early and can also protect others from getting infected. But the question is how is Tuberculosis prevented?  Let’s have a look at this question how is Tuberculosis prevented? 

Being infected you should take care of things such as

• Cover mouth – Before coughing or sneezing always cover your mouth with a clean piece of cloth or handkerchief. Keep your mouth covered even when you’re talking to a healthy person, this can prevent the tuberculosis germs to transmit into the air. 
• Avoid crowdy places – Avoid crowdy places and stay at home until you do not recover from tuberculosis. And try to live in a room with ventilations because in closed places tuberculosis can not be prevented.
• Wear a mask – If you need to go out then try to wear a mask always. 
• Finish your Medications – As per your doctors’ recommendation you should take the medicines from time to time and the medicines should not be postponed at all.

These were some answers to the question of how is tuberculosis prevented but there is no Vaccine available for TB. But in some countries where TB is common testing ad the development of vaccines is occurring at various stages.

Final Words

Tuberculosis is a major topic of concern in India as well. According to the WHO report of 2020, the rate of tuberculosis-infected people in India was 2.2 cases per 100,000 persons. It is a transmissible disease that spreads through the air from an infected person to a healthy person. So the key points I shared in the How Is Tuberculosis Prevented, everyone should keep these points in mind. We have covered the facts about Tuberculosis, the types of Tuberculosis and how is Tuberculosis prevented?

Hope you and your family are tuberculosis free, if you observe the above-mentioned symptoms then you should look for a doctor as soon as possible. We have tried to cover all the facts about tuberculosis, hope the write-up was useful for you.

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