Tuberculosis Infection in the United States
Until recently, the United States belonged to a number of “safe” countries in the incidence of tuberculosis. The main place among diseases was occupied by the problems of combating cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, obesity. However, owing to a big quantity of immigrants, the prevalence of tuberculosis forced the United States to explore this issue with great attention.Tuberculosis Infection in the United States
Today, despite advances in treatment, tuberculosis is a global pandemic. Its spread is promoted by poverty in a number of countries, wars, AIDS, and poor medical care. In recent years, the cause of tuberculosis has also been the emergence of types of tubercle bacilli, resistant to anti-TB drugs.Tuberculosis Infection in the United States
Exploring specific details about the disease, it can be said that the disease develops after infection of the human body with a tubercle bacillus Mycobacterium. The main way of infection is getting a bacillus by airborne droplets into the respiratory system. Less common are the contact and transplacental modes of transmission of infection. The bacterium penetrates into the body through the respiratory tract, then migrates into the bronchial mucosa, the alveoli, and spreads through the body with the blood flow.
The first signs of manifestations of the disease include: feeling of weakness, general malaise, chronic fatigue; lack of appetite, increased irritability; insomnia, frequent nightmares; increased sweating; increased body temperature, which is regularly held and accompanied by chills; dry paroxysmal cough. When the disease flows into a severe form, the infected person has symptoms that are more serious; these symptoms arise depending on the localization of the disease.
Depending on the state of the immune system, doctors subdivide all those who have had some contacts with patients with tuberculosis into two categories: 1. Latent tuberculosis, when there are no symptoms of the disease, and a person is not contagious; 2. Active tuberculosis that is a condition when the infected develops a clinical picture of the disease, and is able to infect others. Tuberculosis affects mainly the lungs of a person, but in some cases, any other organs can be affected.
TB can be diagnosed in different ways. According to Miramontes et al (2015), “the most common diagnostic test for TB is a skin test where a small injection of PPD tuberculin, an extract of the TB bacterium, is made just below the inside forearm”. Unfortunately, this test is not 100 percent effective. Moreover, it is possible to diagnose the disease in the process of a full-scale in-patient examination, which includes tuberculin diagnostics; radiography; fluorography; a blood test (bacteriological, immunoenzymatic). As a result, drug treatment is usually prescribed with a mild form of active tuberculosis. In more serious forms, surgical intervention and chemotherapy are practiced.Tuberculosis Infection in the United States
In conclusion, we have explored many issues associated with tuberculosis and have realized that tuberculosis is a social disease. The incidence depends on people’s standard of living, material and living conditions, and adequate nutrition. The morbidity is also affected by migration processes and, of course, the system of prevention and detection of tuberculosis.
Reference
Miramontes, R. et al. (2015). Tuberculosis Infection in the United States: Prevalence Estimates from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2011-2012. PLoS ONE, 10(11), e0140881. http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140881 Tuberculosis Infection in the United States