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TUBERCULOSIS

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TUBERCULOSIS

Cause: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the tubercle bacillus. Humans can also become infected by bovine tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium bovis.

 

Transmission: Infection is usually by direct airborne transmission from person to person.

 

Nature of the disease: Exposure to Mycobacterium tuberculosis may lead to infection, but most infections do not lead to disease. The risk of developing disease following infection is generally 5–10% during the lifetime, but may be increased by various factors, notably immunosuppression (e.g. advanced HIV infection).

Multidrug resistance refers to strains of M. tuberculosis that are resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampicin. The resistant strains do not differ from other strains in infectiousness, likelihood of causing disease, or general clinical effects; however, if they do cause disease, treatment is more difficult and the risk of death will be higher.

 

Geographical distribution: Worldwide. The risk of infection differs between countries, as shown on the map of estimated TB incidence (see map).

 

Risk for travellers: Low for most travellers. Long-term travellers (over 3 months) to a country with a higher incidence of tuberculosis than their own may have a risk of infection comparable to that for local residents. As well as the duration of the visit, living conditions are important in determining the risk of infection: high-risk settings include health facilities, shelters for the homeless, and prisons.

 

Prophylaxis: BCG vaccine is of limited use for travellers but may be advised for infants and young children in some situations

 

Precautions: Travellers should avoid close contact with known tuberculosis patients. For travellers from low-incidence countries who may be exposed to infection in relatively high-incidence countries (e.g. health professionals, humanitarian relief workers, missionaries), a baseline tuberculin skin test is advisable in order to compare with retesting after return. If the skin reaction to tuberculin suggests recent infection, the traveller should receive, or be referred for, treatment for latent infection. Patients under treatment for tuberculosis should not travel until the treating physician has documented, by laboratory examination of sputum, that the patient is not infectious and therefore of no risk to others. The importance of completing the prescribed course of treatment should be stressed.

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It's like reading medical books.

 

What I would like to say that is it tuberclosis sill exist as the major disease?

 

I am bit excited which part of the world TB is a major problem?

 

would be great if i know.

 

regards

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It's like reading medical books.

 

What I would like to say that is it tuberclosis sill exist as the major disease?

 

I am bit excited which part of the world TB is a major problem?

 

would be great if i know.

 

regards

 

Well, as a medic, i'd like to inform you that TB is really a very big problem now. Its history dates very old. Long time back, it used to be a probl;em of developed countries. It then spread to developing countries as it got lesser and lesser in the developed countries. Then came the HIV and AIDS! With HIV infection, people become very immunocompromised (weak body defense system) and then tend to develop the disease very easily. So TB is very much common in HIV positive people. Atypical TB, which cannot normally affect healthy people, can in fact affect immunocompromised people like HIV infected ones! So, it again started in the developed world, and now it is again a common problem of developed and developing nations, that is , virtually afftecting the whole world! It is therefore called pandemic, compared to smaller scale epidemic!

 

I hope u found its distribution and history pretty interesting. There are lot of other diseases, which if you study find it very interesting. Like for example, HIV itself is very interesting to know about.

 

 

Merci! :)

 

 

DocteurX

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Dear friends,

 

It is always good to learn about the situation of TB in our own country.

 

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health problem in Nepal. About 45 percent of the total population is infected with TB, out of which 60 percent are adult. Every year, 40,000 people develop active TB, of whom 20,000 have infectious pulmonary disease. These 20,000 are able to spread the disease to others. Introduction of treatment by Directly Observed Treatment Short course (DOTS) has already reduced the numbers of deaths; however 5,000-7,000 people continue to die every year from this disease. Expansion of this cost effective and highly successful treatment strategy of DOTS, which already has proven its efficacy in Nepal, will have a profound impact on mortality and morbidity. By achieving the global targets of diagnosing 70 percent of new infectious cases and curing 85 percent of these patients we will prevent 50,000 deaths over the next five years. High cure rates will reduce the transmission of TB and lead to a decline in the incidence of this disease, which will ultimately help us to achieve our objectives of TB control.

 

I hope it has been a nice information for you.

 

 

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Dear friends,

 

It is always good to learn about the situation of TB in our own country.

 

thanks sunil sir,

 

that was a very good piece of info!

well, to add to it, DOTS Plus , then new policy added to the National TB Program is doing great to cure the resistant cases and secondary treatment failure cases!

 

Interestingly, first resistant case of TB was also found in Nepal. Nepal's TB control program is one of the best model of clinical trials of TB in the world!

 

Just more good news!

 

 

DocteurX

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Relapse and Multile Drug Resistance (MDR) toward TB is in an increasing trend. Association of TB with HIV is a more serious concern currently. TB is the most common opportunistic infection among HIV positives.

 

Specially, MDR TB is a very big problem and possesses a treat in therapy too. MDR is observed as the resistance towards first line drugs.

 

Treatment cost of MDR TB is very high and moreover, the success rate is only around 50%. In fact, Nepalese people can't, in general, offord the cost of MDR TB treatment.

Furtunately, we have different programs like GLOBAL FUND to fight against TB in Nepal and it is a good news that we can get MDR TB treatment free of cost.

 

One most important thing is to prevent the transmission of MDR TB because of its severity and high mortality. Therefore, more emphasis should be given for public awareness.

 

To conclude, PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE.

 

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