Tuberculosis in medicine is understood as an infectious disease caused by the tuberculosis microbacterium (Koch's wand). It was Robert Koch who, back in 1882, discovered the causative agent of this disease. This disease causes significant economic damage to the population of our planet every year. On the territory of our country every year the disease is detected in 80 people out of 100 thousand. In this article, we will talk in more detail about this disease, and also consider which symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis occur first.
General information
According to experts, the main route of transmission of the pathogen today is airborne. So, during a normal conversation or cough, mucus and saliva with a pathogen are thrown out of the respiratory tract of a sick person into the external environment. Then the stick penetrates the mucous membranes of a he althy person or is simply swallowed. At first, the immune system practically does not respond to newmicroorganisms, allowing them to multiply freely. So, the causative agents of the disease calmly "conquer" the human body.
Pulmonary tuberculosis. Symptoms
Photos of patients prove that the characteristic signs of this disease, to
sorry, no. Most often, patients begin to complain of shortness of breath, coughing and hemoptysis.
- Cough due to inflammation of the lungs and subsequent involvement of the lymph nodes in this process.
- Hemoptysis is a rather rare symptom of pulmonary tuberculosis. The thing is that it appears only when the forms of this disease are running.
- Shortness of breath is another symptom of pulmonary tuberculosis. It occurs quite often and is a consequence of a lack of oxygen. In some cases, it is shortness of breath that can lead to an almost complete limitation of the patient's physical activity.
- The so-called intoxication syndrome is a very important symptom of pulmonary tuberculosis. It develops due to the absorption into the blood of some products of tissue breakdown and subsequent inflammation. Experts identify the following characteristic signs of intoxication:
- consistent weight loss;
- drowsy;
- pallor of the skin;
- almost complete lack of appetite;
- sweats at night.
What should be the treatment?
After diagnosing the disease, you can proceed to direct therapy. Typically, treatment isspecialized TB dispensaries. It usually consists of four conditional parts. First of all, antibacterial drugs are used (4-5 items at the same time). The second component of therapy is surgery. It is possible only with the so-called destructive forms of the disease, as well as with complications in the form of numerous bleeding or pneumothorax. The third component is the fight against intoxication (the symptom of pulmonary tuberculosis described above). For these purposes, as a rule, vitamins, sorbents and hepatoprotectors are prescribed. The fourth component is the fight against existing respiratory failure. The thing is that it is hypoxia that often complicates the course of the disease itself and, accordingly, the treatment. Oxygen therapy is widely used to combat this problem.
