The Sunday News
Lee-Anne Hall
TUBERCULOSIS commonly referred to as TB is an infectious bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which commonly affects the lungs.
In this article I will mainly refer to the RB that affects the lungs.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) over 95 percent of TB deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, and is in the top five causes of deaths for women aged 15 to 44. It has been estimated that the TB death rate dropped by 47 percent between 1990 and 2015 in Africa.
Aetiology
TB is spread from person to person through the air. In other words it is transmitted from person to person via droplets from the throat and lungs of people with the active respiratory disease.
When someone with lung TB coughs, sneezes or spits they propel TB germs to become infected.
About one third of the world’s population has latent TB, which means people have been infected by TB do not fall ill or spread.
There is also multi-drug resistant TB. This disease is caused by bacteria that do not respond to, at least, isoniazid and rifampicin, the two most powerful, first-line anti-TB drugs.
Symptoms of “Active TB” and diagnosis
The most common symptom of lung TB is a severe cough sometimes associated with blood.
Many countries still rely on a long-used method called sputum smear microscopy to diagnose TB. Fortunately, this form of TB can be diagnosed within a day.
The most common symptoms of TB are developing a cough, fever, chest pain, sweats and weight loss. When people don’t act upon these symptoms they can easily infect 10-15 other people through close contact.
Thus awareness of this disease is vital in order for people to be able to identify the symptoms once they or family members have them.
Who is more at risk?
People that get infected by TB have a 10 percent lifetime risk of falling ill with TB.
People with compromised immune systems for example with HIV are 20 to 30 times more likely to develop active TB. Other examples of people with compromised immune systems are those suffering from diabetes or malnutrition and people who smoke tobacco.
Tobacco use has a great impact in increasing the risk of TB disease and death.
More than 20 percent of TB cases worldwide are attributable to smoking.
At least HIV and TB form a lethal combination, each speeding the other’s progress. In 2014 about 0,4 million people died of HIV-associated TB.
Treatment and Prevention
It is important that once one notices the symptoms of TB they seek medical assistance, in order to avoid spreading to other people and death.
TB is a treatable and curable disease. Active TB disease is treated with a standard six-month course of antimicrobial drugs.
Health professionals are available to provide supervision and support to the patient.
In Zimbabwe, the patient has to personally go and get the medication from the clinics for the first three months.
Here, the health professional accounts to the patient’s adherence to medication, in order to avoid it from spread.
HIV positive patients or patients with weak immune systems should focus on eating healthy foods and focusing on improving their immune systems so that they can prevent acquired TB.
TB prevention consists of two main parts. The first part of TB prevention is to stop the transmission of TB from one adult to another. This is done by identifying people with active TB, and then curing them through the provision of drug treatment.
The second part of TB prevention is to prevent people with latent TB from developing active, and infectious TB disease.
Community Awareness and Hygiene
Since TB is an airborne disease it is important to educate the community about preventative measures. Firstly, there should be co-ordination and communication between HIV and TB programmes. Thus, initiatives towards health empowerment should be put in place to ensure sufficient management and preventative measures.
Again, patients should understand how to protect themselves, and others, from exposure to TB by simple cough hygiene measures.
Health care professionals working in facilities with TB and HIV patients can be encouraged to promote coughing hygiene. They should also wear face masks to avoid contaminating TB. The face mask can capture large particles near the mouth and nose of the patient.
Households should be adequately ventilated. People with TB should spend as much time as possible outdoors and spend as little time as possible on public transport.
‘‘Take care of your busy body, you owe that to your family’’
For more information about TB please email me on [email protected] Or follow my blog www.healthpromotionbyleeanne.wordpress.com
Lee-Anne Hall, BSc Physiotherapy
