What is
Tuberculosis or TB? Tuberculosis is an acute or chronic mycobacterial infection of the lower
respiratory tract; it is accompanied by malaise,fever,night sweats,weight loss,productive cough, shortness of breath,chest pain, hemoptysis or coughing out with blood and hoarseness of breath in advance stages.
May invade lymph nodes to cause systematic disease. TB may affect many areas of the body in cluding the kidney,urinary bladder and bones.
Its
etiologic agent
primarily Mycobacterium tuberculosis a slow growing acid fast
gram positive to gram negative bacillus. Occasionaly other
Mycobacterium spp.( e.g. M. Africanum or M. Bovis form cattle.
Mycobacterium Tuberculosis. is sometimes rfered to us as the Tubercle bacillus.
The reservoir or the carrier of this etiologic agent:
•Primarily infected humans, rarely in primates.
•Cattle and other infected mammals.
Mode of Transmission:
•via airborne dropletsproduced by infected individuals.
•Exposure to infected
cattle or ingestion of unpastuerized contaminated milk and other diary products.
More abstracts about the What is Tuberculosis,TB?