A person can be a carrier of the tuberculosis pathogen for years and not suspect the presence of infection. In some cases, the symptoms of the disease appear similarly to a common cold. Therefore, in the early stages it is rather difficult to detect the presence of an ailment. In this article we will try to find out how tuberculosis is determined, which treatment methods should be used to eliminate the problem.
What is tuberculosis?
Tuberculosis is an acute infectious disease caused by microscopic bacteria known as Koch's bacilli. An ailment develops with a decrease in immunity, as a result of a defeat by an
infection of the respiratory tract.Tuberculosis bacteria are most often transmitted from the carrier of the disease to a healthy person by airborne droplets, which leads to sedimentation of the tuberculosis pathogen in the lungs. Infection can also occur through household contacts with bacteria, when the latter directly enter the digestive tract.
The probability of infection with Koch's rods is only 5% for a healthy person with good immunity. People with a weakened body are much more likely to become infected.
The risk group consists of young children and adolescents. Women under 35 years old are much more likely to become infected with the causative agent of tuberculosis compared with young men.
Factors that contribute to the development of the disease
Among the risk factors it is worth noting:
- Prolonged contact with objects on which the pathogen is located.
- Frequent communication with the carrier of the disease.
- Regularly located in a dirty, unventilated, enclosed area.
- Decreased 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 determine 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:
- a strong feeling of fatigue without objective reasons;
- a feeling of general physical or mental malaise;
- the presence of poor appetite;
- sharp weight loss with a plentiful, healthy diet;
- a slight increase in body temperature.
Microscopic diagnosis
How to detect tuberculosis at an early stage? If the above symptoms are identified, you should contact the hospital for a sputum smear. The composition of the obtained sample is examined under a microscope in laboratory conditions.
It is worth noting that negative test results do not always indicate the absence of an ailment. Quite often, the development of the disease at an early stage does not reveal microscopic bacteria in a smear of sputum from the lungs. For this reason, in the presence of obvious symptoms of tuberculosis, it is important to repeat the study after some time.
Fluorography
How is tuberculosis determined? 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, followed by growing a bacterial culture in the laboratory. How is tuberculosis determined in this way? Such an analysis can take several months, because during the tests, specialists check the sensitivity of microorganisms in the crop to the effects of various antibiotics. However, the study allows the pathogen to be identified with high accuracy.
Sputum culture is also a good way to determine the resistance of a particular variety of Koch sticks to the effects of certain drugs. At the moment, there are no alternative research methods that would allow to obtain the specified information.
Extrapulmonary tuberculosis
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 extrapulmonary tuberculosis is likely. In this case, an infection of the mucous membrane of the eyes, joints and bones, gastrointestinal tract, meninges, central nervous system, and urogenital tract can occur.
How is extrapulmonary tuberculosis determined? The first signs of the development of such a disease are:
- sleep disturbance, general irritability as a result of exposure to the central nervous system;
- increased sweating due to mass intoxication of tissues with pathogenic bacteria;
- unhealthy pallor, a manifestation of an uneven blush;
- a decrease in the level of leukocytes and red blood cells in the blood, which is accompanied by the development of conditions characteristic of anemia.
How to determine tuberculosis in a child?
The detection of the disease in the early stages of children is part of a mandatory preventive program in educational institutions aimed at preventing epidemics. The main goal here is to identify children who are at high risk. These categories include:
- Children who have family, family, or apartment contacts with infected people.
- An infected, tuberculin test of which is more than 6 mm in diameter.
- Children who suffer from non-specific, chronic respiratory diseases.
- HIV infected
- Children who have not received BCG vaccination at an early age.
How to identify a child with tuberculosis? For this. In addition to hyperergic injection samples, from 15 years of age, fluorography methods are used. In the presence of obvious symptoms of the disease, sputum culture is performed.
Finally
The initial stage of development of tuberculosis is not easy by the nature of the course of the disease. Manifestations 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.