What is PTB?
Pulmonary
Tuberculosis (PTB) is a contagious disease of the lungs caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Although the
bacteria generally affect the lungs, they also affect other areas such as the
spine, the kidneys, and the brain. To differentiate, tuberculosis of the lungs
is referred to as pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and the tuberculosis in other
areas as extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB). PTB is more common.
How is PTB spread?
PTB
is spread primarily through air droplets when a person with symptomatic TB
coughs or sneezes. When these infected air droplets are breathed in, the
bacteria lodge in the lungs. The disease can also be spread through skin
wounds, but this can only happen in rare cases, such as if you’re a lab
technician handling TB specimens.
How do you know if you have PTB?
If
you are showing symptoms of the disease, see a pulmonary doctor straight away.
Symptoms are strong indications that active tuberculosis has developed. The
doctor will recommend tests to verify what you really have before prescribing
therapy. Symptoms include the following:
- coughing
- fever
- chest pain
- night sweating and chills
- shortness of breathe
- loss of appetite
- fatigue
- (in severe cases) coughing up blood
It
can also be that you were exposed to the bacteria but are asymptomatic and only
discovered you are infected during a routine checkup. If you are not
showing any symptoms, what you have is probably latent tuberculosis and not
contagious.
What are active PTB and latent PTB?
Latent
PTB means a person is infected with the disease but is not showing symptoms and
is not contagious. This means the infection is in its early state or that the
immune system is actively fighting the bacteria and keeping them from wreaking
havoc to the body. Latent PTB will likely develop into active disease if the
immune system is weakened.
Active
PTB means the infection has developed into active tuberculosis because the
body’s immune cells can no longer contain the bacteria. Active PTB is
contagious.
Who are most susceptible to the disease?
Children
and people with compromised or weakened immune system, such as old people and
those suffering from diabetes or HIV, are the most susceptible to tuberculosis.
How is PTB cured?
PTB
is very curable and recovery rate is very high if patients follow the doctor’s
instructions religiously. Length of treatment can last from 6 months to 1 year
or so, depending on the severity of the disease. Multiple drugs are given at
once to prevent bacterial resistance to drugs. Treatments are adjusted
depending on the bacteria’s reaction to the antibiotics.
Getting
treatment is more urgent in active PTB cases so as to prevent the disease from further
worsening and spreading. In latent cases, treatment is also necessary to
prevent an active disease from developing at a later time.
Talk
with your doctor about the possible side-effects of the antibiotics and what
you should do in case you experience them.
What is drug-resistant PTB?
Some
people stop taking antibiotics when they start to feel better even if they have
not yet completed the full therapy, and some skip dosage for different reasons.
When therapy is not completed or the patient fails to follow the prescribed
treatment, bacteria could acquire drug resistance. Treating drug-resistant
bacteria can cost more money and take longer time to treat. New strains of
drug-resistant bacteria can pose serious problems because there are no
available drugs to fight them.
What are PTB scars?
TB
leaves scar tissues in the lungs even after successful therapy. They are not
something that can be removed cosmetically and they show every time you get a
chest x-ray. There are cases when the disease leaves no scars at all or when the
scars are very minimal that they don’t register as something “suspicious.”
In most cases, however, you will have to live with the scarring, probably for
the rest of your life. This can be inconvenient especially if you dream of
getting employment abroad—some foreign employers reject applicants with history
of PTB, which the scarring of the lung tissues can indicate. Some local
employers may also discriminate against applicants with lung scars. If you have
a regular employment, you may also be required to present an annual
certification from your lung doctor stating that they are just scars and not a
recurring disease.
What to do during the course of therapy?
If
your case is latent, there’s no need for you to stop working, isolate yourself,
or inform anyone that you have the disease. Ensure that you get plenty of rest and healthy food every day and exercise
regularly to strengthen your immune system
and to give your body a higher chance of recovery.
If
your TB is active, you need to isolate yourself until such time that the
disease is no longer contagious, as determined by your doctor. You also need to
inform the city health department for documentation purposes.
Can I become infected again?
There’s really no
guaranteed protection against the disease, and getting rid of the TB does not automatically make you immune to the bacteria. So if you become exposed to a person
with active PTB, chances are you will be infected again.
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