Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, [7] is a contagious disease usually caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) bacteria. [1]
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb), also known as Koch's bacillus, is a species of pathogenic bacteria in the family Mycobacteriaceae and the causative agent of tuberculosis. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] First discovered in 1882 by Robert Koch , M. tuberculosis has an unusual, waxy coating on its cell surface primarily due to the presence of mycolic acid .
"HIV infection is the greatest known risk factor for the progression of latent M. tuberculosis infection to active TB. In many African countries, 30–60% of all new TB cases occur in people with HIV, and TB is the leading cause of death globally for HIV-infected people." [10]
After the establishment in the 1880s that the disease was contagious, TB was made a notifiable disease in Britain; there were campaigns to stop spitting in public places, and the infected poor were pressured to enter sanatoria that resembled prisons; the sanatoria for the middle and upper classes offered excellent care and constant medical ...
TB exposure No evidence of infection: History of exposure Negative reaction to tuberculin skin test 2: TB infection No disease: Positive reaction to tuberculin skin test Negative bacteriologic studies (if done) No clinical, bacteriologic, or radiographic evidence of TB 3: TB, clinically active: M. tuberculosis cultured (if done)
Treatment of latent TB infection typically involves using a single drug for a prolonged period of time—the most common approach is Isoniazid for 9 months. Treatment of active TB disease is typically a combination of antibiotics, which results in patients being non-infectious to others usually within a few weeks.
Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a form of tuberculosis (TB) infection caused by bacteria that are resistant to treatment with at least two of the most powerful first-line anti-TB medications (drugs): isoniazid and rifampicin.
Under the US recommendations, diagnosis and treatment of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is considered for any BCG-vaccinated person whose skin test is 10 mm or greater, if any of these circumstances are present: [citation needed] Was in contact with another person with infectious TB; Was born or has resided in a high TB prevalence country