Tuberculosis: Prevention and Treatment

Tuberculosis in the Lungs

Lung tissue calcification, resulting from pulmonary tuberculosis, appears as yellow patches within the chest area of this human X ray.
When airborne phlegm contaminated with the bacillus Mycobacterium tuberculosis is inhaled, nodular lesions, called tubercles, may form in the lungs and spread through the nearest lymph node.
[Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2007]

Now I'd really like to share about one of the infectious serious diseases known as Tuberculosis (TB). It is an acute bacterial infection that primarily attacks the lungs. It may also affect the kidneys, lymph nodes, bones, and brain. The disease is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Here are symptoms of TB; cough, chest pain, shortness of breath, loss of appetite, weight loss, fever, chills, etc. Children and people with weaken immune systems are the most susceptible to TB. The untreated TB cases are fatal. According to WHO, one individual becomes infected with TB every second, and every year over 8 million people contract the disease. TB causes 2 million deaths a year. World Health Organization (WHO) declared TB to be a global emergency in 1993.

General preventive that we can take is start from home; ventilation systems lessen the chance of infection by dispersing the bacteria and the ltraviolet lighting also reduces, but does not eliminate, the threat of infection by killing TB bacteria in confined spaces. Vaccine your children when they're baby with bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG) vaccine, prepared from bacteria that have been weakened. In TB cases, the BCG vaccine is the most effective in preventing childhood.

When you or your family members or somebody around you shows the TB symptoms and positively infected, you or them really need the treatment as soon as possible. With the advent of effective antibiotics for TB, Drug therapy has become the basis of treatment. All recommended therapies given for at least 6 months, often for as long as 9 to 12 months. It is very important to finish the medicine. Do not ever stop taking the drugs too soon, because the germs that are still alive may become difficult to treat and it will take longer and harder treatment. In my country, Indonesia, TB is the major health concern. The government provides TB treatment program with giving free TB medicine, funding, and service delivery spread across 33 provincial and 530 local governments.

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Related posts (in Bahasa Indonesia):
Obat TB Gratis
TB Dapat Disembuhkan