What is Tuberculosis? Tuberculosis, otherwise known as TB, is a bacterial infection that is often centered in the lungs but can spread to any part of the body through lymph nodes and bloodstream. It sparks from the transfer of droplets of microscopic bacteria in the air from one individual to another.
What Systems the Disease Affects? Tuberculosis mainly affects the respiratory system in the lungs and is commonly known as pulmonary tuberculosis. However, other organs in the body including the brain, bones, and kidneys that fall into the nervous system, musculoskeletal system, and the excretory system respectively, can be affected as well. When it affects systems outside of the respiratory system, it is called extrapulmonary tuberculosis. …show more content…
Most infections do not have many symptoms and their are known as latent tuberculosis. Some general symptoms include coughing, fatigue, chest pain, chills, night sweats, and loss of appetite. Occasionally, people with the disease may experience flu-like symptoms as well as coughing out small amounts of blood. Extrapulmonary tuberculosis spreads the infection to other parts of the body. The infection sites compromise of the central nervous system, the bones, the pleura, and the lymphatic system. As this transition happens, these infection is now referred to as an active tuberculosis.
How Would a Person Acquire the Disease? The cause for tuberculosis is the transfer or spreading of microscopic bacteria in the form of droplets in the air from one person to another. These droplets could be a result of someone sneezing, coughing, or spitting. Tuberculosis is contagious, but is not easily caught by one. People who have HIV have a higher chance of getting tuberculosis as their immune systems are not able to control the bacteria formed by tuberculosis. This goes for the elderly as well as their immune systems have gotten weak enough that they cannot control the bacteria.
Treatments for
What Systems the Disease Affects? Tuberculosis mainly affects the respiratory system in the lungs and is commonly known as pulmonary tuberculosis. However, other organs in the body including the brain, bones, and kidneys that fall into the nervous system, musculoskeletal system, and the excretory system respectively, can be affected as well. When it affects systems outside of the respiratory system, it is called extrapulmonary tuberculosis. …show more content…
Most infections do not have many symptoms and their are known as latent tuberculosis. Some general symptoms include coughing, fatigue, chest pain, chills, night sweats, and loss of appetite. Occasionally, people with the disease may experience flu-like symptoms as well as coughing out small amounts of blood. Extrapulmonary tuberculosis spreads the infection to other parts of the body. The infection sites compromise of the central nervous system, the bones, the pleura, and the lymphatic system. As this transition happens, these infection is now referred to as an active tuberculosis.
How Would a Person Acquire the Disease? The cause for tuberculosis is the transfer or spreading of microscopic bacteria in the form of droplets in the air from one person to another. These droplets could be a result of someone sneezing, coughing, or spitting. Tuberculosis is contagious, but is not easily caught by one. People who have HIV have a higher chance of getting tuberculosis as their immune systems are not able to control the bacteria formed by tuberculosis. This goes for the elderly as well as their immune systems have gotten weak enough that they cannot control the bacteria.
Treatments for