TUBERCULOSIS

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 Case Scenario:

                         The patient is a 30-year-old male who was admitted to the hospital from home after 1 week of cough, profuse nocturnal sweating, loss of appetite, and hyposomnia. He was seen by an emergency room physician who saw signs of depression. The patient has a history of intravenous drug abuse and hepatitis B.

Epidemiology:

                     It is estimated that around 2 billion people are infected by tuberculosis. Every year 10 million people get infected by it and 1.6 million people die from it. In fact, T.B is the leading cause of death out of all the infectious diseases.

Causes:

           Tuberculosis is caused by a type of bacterium called mycobacterium tuberculosis. It spreads when a person with active T.B sneezes or coughs and someone inhales the spelled particles which have the t.b bacteria with it.

Symptoms: 

  1. A persistent cough that lasts for more than 3 weeks and usually brings up phlegm, which may be bloody.
  2. Weightloss
  3. Night sweats
  4. High temperature
  5. Tiredness and fatigue
  6. Loss of appetite
  7. Swellings in the neck

Complications:

  1. Spinal Pain. Back pain and stiffness are common complications of tuberculosis 
  2. Joint damage
  3. Swelling of the meninges(Surface covering the brain)
  4. Liver or kidney problems
  5. Heart disorders

Diagnosis:

              The most commonly used diagnostic test used for tuberculosis is the skin test, Through blood tests are becoming more commonplace. 

References:

     1. Case scenario is taken from test target treat; The as reported by Roman Koslov; The URL to the page is https://www.testtargettreat.com/en/home/educational-resources/case-studies/tuberculosis-case-study.html

     2. The Epidemiology was taken from a self-study module from the CDC; The PDF of the module can be found on this URL https://www.cdc.gov/tb/education/ssmodules/pdfs/module2.pdf

     3. The causes and symptoms were taken from the NHS; The URL to that page is https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/tuberculosis-tb/

     4. Complications and diagnoses from Mayoclinic; The URL is 
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tuberculosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20351250
            



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