What is the most important symptom of pulmonary tuberculosis?

In medicine, tuberculosis is understood as an infectious disease that is caused by a tuberculosis microbacterium ( Koch's bacillus ). It was Robert Koch in the distant 1882 who discovered the causative agent of this ailment. This disease causes significant annual economic damage to the population of our planet. On the territory of our country annually, the disease is detected in 80 people out of 100 thousand. In this article, we will talk in more detail about this ailment, and also consider what symptoms with pulmonary tuberculosis occur first.

general information

If you believe the experts, the main route of transmission of the pathogen today is airborne. So, in a normal conversation or cough, mucus and saliva with the pathogen are released into the external environment from the respiratory tract of a sick person. Then the stick penetrates the mucous membranes of a healthy person or is simply swallowed. At first, the immune system practically does not respond to new microorganisms, allowing it 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 ailment, to

unfortunately not. Most often, patients begin to complain of shortness of breath, coughing and hemoptysis.

1. The cough is due to pneumonia and the subsequent involvement of the lymph nodes in this process.
2. Hemoptysis is a fairly rare symptom of pulmonary tuberculosis . The thing is that it appears exclusively with advanced forms of this ailment.
3. Dyspnea is another symptom of pulmonary tuberculosis. It occurs quite often and is a consequence of a lack of oxygen. In some cases, shortness of breath can lead to an almost complete limitation of the patient's physical activity.
4. The so-called intoxication syndrome is a very important symptom of pulmonary tuberculosis. It develops due to the absorption in the blood of certain tissue breakdown products and subsequent inflammation. Specialists distinguish the following characteristic signs of intoxication:

• consistent weight loss;
• drowsiness;
• pallor of the skin;
• almost complete lack of appetite;
• sweating at night.

What should be the treatment?

After the diagnosis of the disease, you can proceed to immediate therapy. As a rule, treatment is carried out in specialized TB dispensaries. It often consists of four conventional parts. First of all, antibacterial drugs are used (4-5 items at a 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, vitamins, sorbents and hepatoprotectors are usually 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, treatment. Oxygen therapy is commonly used to combat this problem.