Sunday, November 28, 2010

Can you get tuberculosis more than once

Can you get tuberculosis more than once?
In June 2004 I was diagnosed with TB. I was incarcerated at the time and was put on medication. I finished the treatment after I was released under the care of the TB clinic in town. They told me I was finished and that was it. A couple of months ago I got a chronic cough that comes and goes. Is it possible it came back or could it be damage done from before?
Infectious Diseases - 3 Answers
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1 :
Recurrence of the tuberculosis is always possible. It could be the result of reactivation of your previous infection or a new infection. There's also a chance that this is some other bacterial infiction or even an allergy. Important in this context is to know if you had completed the prescribed duration of treatment - 6 or 8 months depending on the case . Moreover, did your sputum sample test negative at the end of treatment ? What I would advice is that you go to a physician. He'll probably check your lymph nodes - if they're swollen- get a chest x-ray done(to see if there exists some active lesion).He should also empirically begin treatment with some antibiotic like amoxicillin .The treatment needs to be taken for 10 days in cases of swollen lymph nodes. If at the end of the treatment, the nodes still persist then get them tested by needle aspiration (FNAC) - this will give some conclusive report of the cause ; further treatment would be guided by its findings.
2 :
yes you can get it more than once and yes it can reappear after a while if it has not been completely eradicated by your previous treatment.
3 :
If you took your medications correctly it should not come back. You should also be teated for HIV because they are a common pair

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Wednesday, November 24, 2010

How does TB (tuberculosis) work exactly

How does TB (tuberculosis) work exactly?
So I know TB is a bacteria that goes into your lungs and then blood and stuff gets in there. But, my question is how exactly? Like cancer cells multiply and take over the normal red blood cells right? So what does TB do? Does it kill normal cells too? And how does the blood and and phlem get there? thanks in advance.
Biology - 2 Answers
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1 :
TB is an aerobic bacillus that is slow growing. It contains a cell wall rich in mycolic acid. Because it is slow growing, it is also difficult to kill. And the mycolic acid makes it difficult for macrophages to eat it and destroy it, So usually, the immune system tries to wall it off. This will cause the infection to become isolated and will continue to grow. TB can affect the lungs, the brain, the lymphatic system, GI tract, genito-urinary system, bones, joints, skin, and the circulatory system. TB is recognized and attacked by the immune system, do if someone's immune system is compomised, TB will spread that much faster. TB will cause the immune system to produce many factors to try and kill the bacteria which will inadvertently kill normal cells, produce phlegm and mucus and will interfere with the proper working o certain organs. The blood appears in sputum because the damage caused by macrophages and other immune cells do not kill the bacteria and spills over to destroy normal tissue eventually causing erosion of blood vessels.
2 :
Aight. So Tb enters the lung right. Now within the lung there are specialised immune cells called aleveolar macrophages(AM). Now Tb contains mycolic acid which stops the Tb from being degraded. While most bad stuff is destroyed by AM, Tb actually lives quite happily inside AM. Inside the AM, the Tb muliply and when there's heaps of Tb, the AM cell is lysed and dies. So now you got heaps of Tb. This attracts more macrophages. The Tb then evades the macrophages, multiples within the macrophages, and lyses the macrophages when it's done. Eventually you get what's called a ganuloma, which is a collection of dead cells and other stuff. First you have a primary granuloma. Then infected macrophages move off to other sites and form secondary granulomas. Also don't forget immune cells contain all sorts of nasty chemicals like ROS(reactive oxygen species) and RNS(reactive nitrogen species). Don't let the term species confuse you, it's not really species, it's chemicals, but their called reactive oxygen species for some reason. And its pretty serious, we're talking peroxide. The chemical released by the immune cells damage the lung cells

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Saturday, November 20, 2010

25 cases of tuberculosis have been reported in the past year and a patient care evaluation study

25 cases of tuberculosis have been reported in the past year and a patient care evaluation study.?
What is the data represented? A population? or a Sample? What kind of data is this? is it a population? or a sample?
Medicine - 1 Answers
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1 :
what is your question ,please be more specific ,thank

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Tuesday, November 16, 2010

2 people in our company tested positive to tuberculosis. They still allow them to work with us is this safe

2 people in our company tested positive to tuberculosis. They still allow them to work with us is this safe?
We had to get tested because an ex employee has T/B and 2 of us came back positive. Our company consist of only 14 employees and 2 stores. The 2nd store is where two of them tested positive and I work at that store twice a week. I came back negative but is it safe to be working with them? I thought they had to stay home till they cured it. Any info will help Thanks
Infectious Diseases - 4 Answers
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1 :
Uh, HELL TO THE NO!!! Extremely contagious, 1,000's of deaths a year, ring any bells?
2 :
no that's not safe.i would stay away rom them until they got rid of it.
3 :
No, it is not ok that they have allowed them to continue working with you. T.B, however is not contagious once the patient's start taken a course of antiboitics (20+ pills every other day, for a year). However, if a patient stops taking it for whatever reason, they become contagious again. I would be pissed off.
4 :
The standard TB test tests for the antibodies your body produces to fight TB. You will test positive if you have TB now or have ever had it. Some people catch TB, then their immune system fights it off and they get over it without even noticing. Some people end up with a "stalemate" where the immune system can suppress the TB but can't completely get rid of it. While this "stalemate" holds these people are not contagious. The only people who are contagious are people with an "active" TB infection. The only way to distinguish an active TB infection from someone who used to have TB is a lung X-ray. Bottom line, these employees MIGHT be perfectly safe to be around

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Friday, November 12, 2010

Does having tuberculosis reduce your life span

Does having tuberculosis reduce your life span?
Does it make you die faster? My grandpa has active tb and is visiting from one of those 3rd world countries, and my dad has diabetes. Because of my dads diabetes, he has a greater chance of getting tb. I dont want my dad to get it because I want my dad to live long. We received a letter from the health department saying that he has active but not contagious TB. Weve been trying to contact the number on the paper and leaving messages, but theyre not responding. He doesnt have insurance so I dont know what hospital will accept him.
Respiratory Diseases - 2 Answers
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1 :
If you don't treat it.
2 :
If someone has active TB they need to get TREATED now and the county health dept needs to be alerted--this person could be infected thousands of people (other people's dads and mothers and kids)--this is not moral or fair. You need to either alert someone of convince your relative to contact & get treated. TB can cause death and a lot of serious infections besides just the lung kind

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Monday, November 8, 2010

How does tuberculosis effect your lungs and breathing

How does tuberculosis effect your lungs and breathing?
Please answer need for a hw question, asap thanks! The lungs and breathing please, copying and pasting it doesn't answer my question specifically enough.
Respiratory Diseases - 1 Answers
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1 :
If you have latent TB, you will not have symptoms unless the disease becomes active. Most people don't know that they have latent TB. Symptoms of active TB may include: * Ongoing cough that brings up thick, cloudy, and sometimes bloody mucus (sputum) from the lungs. * Fatigue and weight loss. * Night sweats and fever. * Rapid heartbeat. * Swelling in the neck (when lymph nodes in the neck are infected). * Shortness of breath and chest pain (in rare cases). Sometimes, when you are first infected, the disease is so mild you don't know you have it. This is also true for people with latent TB because they have no symptoms

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Thursday, November 4, 2010

AS Level Biology - Describe how Mycobacterium tuberculosis enters the human body and causes disease

AS Level Biology - Describe how Mycobacterium tuberculosis enters the human body and causes disease?
Really stuck on this! Thanks in advance
Biology - 3 Answers
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1 :
It's airborne ... does that help?
2 :
well,, it is basically droplet disease so when the healthy person breath in these droplet release from infected person......so when the mycobacterium enters the lungs.... WBC called phagocyte engulf it and began to form shell around it keeping it under control.. at next stage tubercles are develop which find a suitable environment for growing in the macrophages then it began to invade the bronchi oles and eventually destroy the cells of lungs.......causing TB......... (if not right......sorii......i m just beginner here of 16 yrs old......)
3 :
Through the lungs when someone coughs around you. http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=tb&fr=ush-ans

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Monday, November 1, 2010

in the process of tuberculosis treatment

in the process of tuberculosis treatment?
currently i am in the 3rd month of treatment using the 4 basic antibiotics and did a sputum test recently and my doctor said the results said there was no difference in the numbers of tb bacteria than in the beggining (didnt decrease at all) so she says she is going to talk to a specialist to see what to do. what does this mean? why isnt the bacteria decreasing?
Respiratory Diseases - 2 Answers
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1 :
Are the symptoms subsiding and did you have any symptoms beforehand? Your doc is most likely concerned about "resistance" of the baccilus to the current medication. Also you may have a weakened immune system, or other medical conditions (do you?) complicating TB treatment. That's why your doc wanted to talk to a specialist.
2 :
TB is becoming increasingly drug resistant. Your doctor may end up increasing the length of time you are on the drugs and/or try stronger doses

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