What are the main symptoms of tuberculosis and how to deal with them?

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that usually affects the lungs. If we compare it with other diseases caused by a single infectious agent, it is the second largest killer disease in the world. Therefore, many are concerned about identifying it more clearly and knowing how dangerous it is and its impact on humans. Below, we will explain what are the symptoms of tuberculosis? And how to deal with it.

Symptoms of tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (abbreviated TB or Tbc) is an infectious disease caused by bacteria. The bacteria mostly attack the lungs. An infected person releases germ-containing droplets when they speak, sneeze or cough, which others can breathe in through the air. But not everyone who comes into contact with the bacteria will get sick. The body’s defenses fight off pathogens and often render them harmless. Sometimes the bacteria lie dormant in the body for years. If the immune system is weakened, the bacteria can spread throughout the body, including the lymph nodes, bones, urinary tract, or meninges. TB can spread without people noticing. It often begins insidiously, and symptoms are often vague. Symptoms of tuberculosis include:

• Coughing or coughing with or without phlegm
• Unwanted weight loss
• exhaustion
• mild fever
• night sweats

Complaints go on for weeks. If left untreated, they usually get worse. In the past, the disease was also known as “consumption”.

Symptoms of tuberculosis in the neck

Tuberculosis of the lymph nodes is a condition in which the lymph nodes in the neck and lungs become infected with tuberculosis. Because the lymph nodes near the neck and the collar bone are swollen, they may be touched from the surface of the body, but there are also cases where the unknown part is swollen, and it can be discovered by chance by an examination that was done for another reason. Among the most important symptoms of tuberculosis in the neck are the following :

• Swelling (under the armpit).
• Lymph nodes in the lungs and abdomen. The most common is on the neck.
• Swelling of the neck, collarbone and armpit.

Tuberculosis of the lymph nodes is less painful and may not have a fever. It is also characterized by a long period of time, ranging from weeks to months. Lymph nodes pus may be secreted outside the body due to perforations in the skin. In lymph node tuberculosis, if there are large tuberculosis lesions in the lungs or intestines, symptoms may appear depending on which organ is affected. For the lungs, cough, bloody sputum, for the intestines, abdominal pain, diarrhea and bloody stools.

Symptoms of tuberculosis in children

Tuberculosis is primarily a pulmonary disease with concomitant symptoms and pulmonary infiltration but can cause primary or secondary simultaneous (=after latency) organ manifestations of almost all organs such as lymph nodes (second most common), genitourinary system, intestine and skeletal system joints and meninges. About 60% of tuberculosis cases were lung infection and about 20% were microscopically positive in sputum.

Common symptoms of tuberculosis in children are:

• prolonged cough
• Fever – in children it is often the only symptom
• night sweats
• Swollen glands on the neck
• Lose weight
• Symptoms appear from different organs in disseminated tuberculosis

Children often have a fever and swollen lymph nodes. Young children in particular can rarely suffer serious illnesses such as meningitis and miliary tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis symptoms and treatment

The bacteria that cause tuberculosis are called bacterium tuberculosis or Mycobacterium tuberculosis. When a person with active pulmonary TB coughs or sneezes, the bacteria are dispersed in tiny droplets of water, and they can stay in the air for a long time. It is therefore an airborne infection, and if you breathe in that air, a primary infection can occur within 3-12 weeks. As humans became more populated during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, tuberculosis bacteria spread more efficiently and tuberculosis developed into an epidemic. Tuberculosis was a common disease in the world until the mid-20th century, when the incidence of tuberculosis fell sharply due to the BCG vaccine, new drugs, and improved living conditions. Today, tuberculosis is an unusual disease in most countries of the world. The prevalence of tuberculosis is closely related to overcrowding, poor access to medicines and a high incidence of other diseases in the community. Many developing countries remain the hardest hit by this disease. Tuberculosis is the infectious disease that kills the most people globally every year, even more so than HIV.

Symptoms of tuberculosis

Active pulmonary TB causes symptoms that may resemble a severe respiratory infection, for example:

• prolonged cough
• Cough with mucus or blood
• Fever
• Source
• night sweats
• shortness of breath
• exhaustion
• Anorexia
• Losing weight without trying to lose weight

Tuberculosis treatment

Tuberculosis requires treatment. Treatment consists of a combination of different types of antibiotics to avoid the development of resistance. Medicines must be taken for several months. If you are very sick from the infection, you may need to be admitted to hospital while treatment is started. In other cases, it is possible to take the entire course of antibiotics at home with regular follow-up visits to your GP.

When should I seek care?

Seek medical attention if any of the following apply:

1. If you suspect that you or your child may have tuberculosis.
2. You or your relatives have lived for a long time in a country where tuberculosis is common, and you have symptoms such as a prolonged cough, you cough up blood and/or mucus, weight loss, fever, and night sweats.
3. If you have a child under five years of age who has been exposed to a tuberculosis infection, even if the child has no symptoms.
4. You had tuberculosis early in life and the infection flared up again. Then tell your doctor that you had an infection early in life and may be a carrier of the tuberculosis bacteria.

Symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis

With TB in the lungs or other organs, it is common for the affected person to feel weak, generally lethargic, tired and have a loss of appetite. Symptoms of pulmonary TB are common.

• stubborn cough
• blood in the vomit
• Source
• exhaustion
• Anorexia
• prolonged fever

When tuberculosis affects the lungs, the patient often presents with a stubborn cough and a cough that lasts for several weeks. The person may also experience chest pain and in rare cases there may be blood in the cough. It is also common for the patient to become lethargic, tired, lose appetite and thus lose weight. Fever and night sweats are also common.

Tuberculosis of the lymph nodes and skeletal system

There are also other types of tuberculosis other than pulmonary TB. Lymph nodes can be affected, the main symptom is enlargement of tender glands, especially on the neck. The glands grow slowly. With tuberculosis foci in the skeleton and joints, pain in the affected part of the body is a common occurrence. Spinal tuberculosis can cause a typical hump on the back.

Diagnostic method

Suspected cases of TB are referred to specialists in a lung clinic or infection clinic where the person is examined and may undergo x-rays and provide cough samples which are then analyzed. Various tests can show whether a person has latent TB. In the case of tuberculosis outside the lungs, the diagnosis is made by tuberculin bacteria detected by culture, eg in synovial fluid or in tissue samples. Bone tuberculosis also shows up on x-rays.

What are the symptoms of tuberculosis?

Tuberculosis is an infection caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The most common form of TB is pulmonary TB. However, tuberculosis can occur in any organ. In some patients with pulmonary TB, so much TB bacteria is excreted with vomit that the immediate environment is at risk of infection. When a person with infectious pulmonary TB coughs or talks, aerosols are formed that spread TB bacteria into the air. People who stay in the same room are exposed to tuberculosis when they breathe in aerosols. Only a third of people who have been exposed become infected. The risk of infection is affected by:

• How close is the connection
• exposure time
• Any diseases or drugs that may weaken the immune system of the exposed person
• The amount of TB bacteria in the air.

Young children are particularly susceptible to infection with tuberculosis, and if they become infected with the severe forms of the disease.

The majority of people who become infected with TB do not develop any symptoms. The first symptoms of the disease usually appear within two years of infection. However, it can only appear decades later when the immune system has deteriorated due to age, underlying diseases, or drug treatments that impair resilience. Symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis include a prolonged cough for several months and mucous vomiting. At the same time, the patient may lose weight, and his general condition will deteriorate. A lung X-ray shows shadows on the lungs.

Diagnosis of tuberculosis

Tuberculosis can be diagnosed by:

• Culture of bacteria from secretions or tissue samples
• expectoration staining;
• Detection of bacteria by genetic amplification technique.
• Laboratory tests for mycobacterium bacteria

Thus, we have clarified the symptoms of tuberculosis in the various organs of the body that can be infected with tuberculosis. The question has been answered, What are the symptoms of tuberculosis? different and how to identify them.