If tubercle bacilli were in the human body, they will stay there forever. These germs can simply be within the lymph nodes under the watchful eyes "supervision" of the immune system that does not allow them to multiply, or to cause lung disease, or, more rarely, other organs. Secondary tuberculosis can develop in patients who have had previous open tuberculosis, and cured and those who in the first months or years after infection with mycobacteria were dormant. Recently, researchers have found that the cause of secondary tuberculosis can also be reinfection.
Pathogenesis of secondary tuberculosis
After the first contact of the body with the tubercle bacillus, the following occurs:
- The lymph nodes appear exudative lesions, which usually heal quickly;
- It begins to produce antibodies to the bacteria of tuberculosis;
- Tuberculin skin test gives a positive result - usually after 4-9 weeks after infection.
If a person's immune system is weak and lymph node tissue does not heal fast enough, primary tuberculosis develops, in most cases, affect the lungs
. Most patients (90%) this does not occur, and flows into latent tuberculosis form
. The vast majority of infected people are living with latent TB all my life, and much of it may not even realize
. Sick open tuberculosis are being treated, then the TB bacteria have also become inactive and can never not show
. However, a small number of people through a more or less long period of time, despite the acquired after the initial infection cellular immunity develops secondary tuberculosis
. This is especially true in young adults, whose immunity is weakened by diseases, potent medications (eg, immunosuppressants), or bad habits
.
Extrapulmonary secondary TB are much more common than primary, but pulmonary infection remains the most common type of secondary tuberculosis.
Symptoms
Typically, secondary pulmonary tuberculosis causes the same symptoms as the primary, although they may be more pronounced. Typical symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis - a cough for two or more weeks, coughing up sputum, and / or coughing up blood, fever, weight loss, lack of appetite. People who previously had tuberculosis, usually quick to recognize these symptoms and seek medical attention immediately. If extrapulmonary TB, depending on which body has affected the disease, there may be very different symptoms, such as swollen lymph nodes, abdominal pain, chest pain
Chest pain is one symptom - a lot of diseases
, Pain during urination, hematuria (blood in urine), headache, confusion, liver enlargement, voice changes, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, and so on.
Diagnosis of secondary tuberculosis
If the patient was previously diagnosed tuberculosis, make the Mantoux test is not necessary; otherwise diagnostics begins with tuberculin skin test. Secondary pulmonary tuberculosis is usually diagnosed using radiography and sputum. For the diagnosis of extrapulmonary tuberculosis secondary may need a bronchoscopy
Bronchoscopy - unpleasant but necessary
, Computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, biopsy, urinalysis.
Treatment
Secondary tuberculosis treated with such anti-TB drugs, rifampicin, ethambutol, pyrazinamide, and isoniazid. To get rid of the disease, need treatment, at least two different medications, but in many cases assigned to receive once the four drugs.
During treatment should refrain from drinking alcohol and paracetamol. Antitubercular drugs like acetaminophen and ethyl alcohol leads to a heavy load on the liver, and their combination may result in serious liver disease.
Tell your doctor if you notice the following side effects of anti-TB drugs: jaundice, loss of appetite, dark urine, nausea, rash, itching, fever for three days or more; vomiting, abdominal pain, dizziness, tinnitus, joint pain
Joint pain - how to understand what is going on?
, Memory loss, blurred vision, tingling in the fingers or toes, numbness in the mouth area.
Surgery is the treatment of tuberculosis is seldom used, but the secondary tuberculosis probability that it will need to be slightly higher than in the primary. Operation can be assigned, for example, with strong pulmonary hemorrhage, secondary tuberculous meningitis, or tuberculosis pericardium. Skeletal tuberculosis
Tuberculosis - a full recovery is not guaranteed
Which affects the joints, sometimes it leads to such severe damage that successful treatment is impossible without surgery.