A person can be a carrier of the causative agent of tuberculosis for years and be unaware of the presence of an infection. In some cases, the symptoms of the disease appear similar to the common cold. Therefore, in the early stages it is quite difficult to detect the presence of an ailment. In this material, we will try to find out how tuberculosis is determined, what methods of treatment should be resorted to to eliminate the problem.
What is TB?
Tuberculosis is an acute infectious disease caused by microscopic bacteria known as Koch's rods. An ailment develops with a decrease in immunity, as a result of an infection of the respiratory tract.
Tuberculosis bacteria is most often transmitted from a carrier of the disease to a he althy person by airborne droplets, which leads to the deposition of the causative agent of tuberculosis in the lungs. Infection can also occur through household contact with bacteria, when the latter enter directly into the digestive tract.
Probability of infectiousdefeat with Koch's sticks is only 5% for a he althy person with good immunity. People with a weakened body are much more likely to become infected.
Young children and adolescents are at risk. Women under 35 years of age are much more likely to become infected with the causative agent of tuberculosis compared to young men.
Factors that contribute to the development of the disease
Among the risk factors worth noting:
- Prolonged contact with objects containing the causative agent of the disease.
- Frequent contact with a carrier.
- Regularly being in a dirty, unventilated, enclosed space.
- Decrease in the protective functions of the body as a result of poor nutrition, constant stress, alcohol abuse and smoking, excessive physical exertion.
Signs of the development of the disease in the early stages
How to detect tuberculosis at home? If the disease proceeds in a latent form, it is extremely difficult to identify it in advance, since the course of the disease occurs without obvious signs. If you feel that something is wrong in the body, you should pay attention to the presence of the following symptoms:
- strong feeling of tiredness without objective reasons;
- feeling of general physical or mental malaise;
- poor appetite;
- drastic weight loss with a rich, he althy diet;
- slight increase in body temperature.
Microscopicdiagnostics
How to identify tuberculosis at an early stage? If the above symptoms are detected, it is worth contacting the hospital for taking a sputum smear. The composition of the resulting sample is examined under a microscope in the laboratory.
It is worth noting that negative test results do not always indicate the absence of an illness. Quite often, the development of the disease at an early stage does not allow detecting microscopic bacteria in a sputum smear from the lungs. It is for this reason that it is important to repeat the tests after some time has passed if there are obvious symptoms of tuberculosis.
Fluorography
How is TB diagnosed? In the initial phase, a chest x-ray helps to identify the disease. In terms of prevention, experts recommend resorting to the procedure once a year. The resulting image allows you to see the foci of inflammation, to notice the first signs of bacterial damage to the lung tissue.
Sputum culture
The diagnostic method involves taking a sputum sample and then growing a culture of bacteria in the laboratory. How is tuberculosis determined by this method? Such an analysis can take several months, because during the tests, experts check the sensitivity of microorganisms in crops to the effects of various antibiotics. However, the study allows to identify the causative agent of the disease with high accuracy.
Sputum culture is also a good way to determine the resistance of a certain variety of Koch's bacillus tothe effects of certain drugs. At the moment, there are no alternative research methods that would allow obtaining the specified information.
Extrapulmonary TB
If the infection of the body with the causative agent of the disease did not occur through airborne transmission of the infection, the development of an extrapulmonary form of tuberculosis is likely. In this case, infection may occur in the mucous membrane of the eyes, joints and bones, gastrointestinal tract, meninges, central nervous system, urogenital area.
How is extrapulmonary tuberculosis diagnosed? The first signs of the development of such a disease are:
- sleep disturbance, general irritability as a result of exposure to the pathogen on the central nervous system;
- excessive sweating due to mass tissue intoxication with pathogenic bacteria;
- unhe althy pallor, uneven blush;
- decrease in the level of leukocytes and erythrocytes in the blood, which is accompanied by the development of conditions characteristic of anemia.
How to identify tuberculosis in a child?
Detection of the disease in the early stages in children is part of the mandatory preventive program in educational institutions aimed at preventing epidemics. The main goal here is the identification of children who are at high risk. These categories include:
- Children,who have relatives, family, apartment contacts with infected people.
- Infected whose tuberculin test is more than 6 mm in diameter.
- Children who suffer from non-specific, chronic respiratory diseases.
- HIV infected.
- Children who were not vaccinated with BCG at an early age.
How to identify a child with tuberculosis? For this. in addition to hyperergic injection tests, fluorography methods are used from the age of 15. If there are obvious symptoms of the disease, sputum is cultured.
In closing
The initial stage of the development of tuberculosis is not easy due to the nature of the course of the disease. Symptoms of the disease can easily be confused with the symptoms of a common cold or flu. To avoid damage to the body by the causative agent of tuberculosis, do not forget about the factors that can lead to infection. In terms of prevention, it is necessary to periodically resort to diagnostic procedures.
