Tuberculosis Essay

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Tuberculosis or known as TB remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the world, especially in developing countries. A combination of factors including high costs, limited resources and the poor performance of various diagnostic tests make the diagnosis of TB difficult in developing countries. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2014), one third of the world’s population is infected with tuberculosis. In 2012, nearly nine million people around the world become sick with tuberculosis disease, and there were around one point three million TB related deaths worldwide. A nurse admitted a patient to the hospital with a possible diagnosis of active tuberculosis (TB). The patient was noted on admission to have a fever of 99.9°F. The patient has a cough with hemoptysis. On physical examination, the nurse notes an increased respiratory rate of 24, crackles in the lungs, and a regular heart rate of 88. Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, in which bacteria may invade many parts of the body, such as the brain, the kidneys, and the spine. Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a rod shaped, aerobic bacterium that is resistant to destruction and can persist in necrotic and calcified lesion for prolonged periods and remain capable of reinstating growth (Porth, 2011). However, the most common target is the lungs (Wouk, 2010). The Tuberculosis bacteria severely damage the lungs that it is difficult for a person to breathe. According to Wouk, there are two main types of Tuberculosis. The first type is latent, which means a person carries the tuberculosis germ, but he or she is not sick and can not pass the germ on to the other person, and the other type is active tuberculosis. P... ... middle of paper ... ...n of purified protein derivative or PPD, which is derived from cultures of M tuberculosis (Nayak & Acharjya, 2012). According to Nayak and Acharjya (2012), a person who has been exposed to the bacteria is expected to mount an immune response in the skin containing the bacterial proteins. A positive skin test means an infection with M tuberculosis has occurred, but does not prove tuberculosis disease. However, false positive results can occur with exposure to, or disease of, nontuberculous mycobacteria (Alguire, 2009). In addition, the causes of false positive TB skin test include previous BCG vaccination, incorrect method of skin test administration, incorrect interpretation of reactions, or incorrect bottle of antigen used (Nayak & Acharjya, 2012). Due to the test’s low specificity, most positive reactions in low-risk individuals are false positive (Starke, 1996).

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