Background:
Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by a bacterium, called as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. TB usually affects lungs, but it can also affect other organs, including brain, kidneys and spine. Mycobacterium tuberculosis was identified by Robert Koch in 1882, and it has been spread all over the globe. TB is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide and millions of people fall sick due to TB each year. According to WHO report, there are 10 million people fell ill with TB in 2018 and 1.5 million people among them died.
Symptoms
There are two TB-related conditions exist; latent TB infection and TB disease. Latent TB infection refer to the infected people who do not have any symptoms and they also cannot spread TB bacteria to others. However, they may develop TB disease if they do not receive treatment. The symptoms of TB disease include a bad cough with sputum and blood, chest pains, weakness and fever. Patients with TB disease may spread TB bacteria to others.
Transmission
TB is transmitted through air when the patient with TB disease cough, sneeze or spit.
Treatment
Patient with latent TB infection can be treated with Isoniazid, Rifapentine or Rifampin, while patient with TB disease can also be treated by isoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol and pyrazinamide. Without proper treatment, about 45% of HIV-negative patient and nearly all HIV-positive patient will died.
Infection Control
Vaccine is available for TB. Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is a vaccine to prevent tuberculosis (TB) disease.
TB patients should follow cough etiquette and respiratory hygiene. They should spend as little time as possible in places where large numbers of people gather together.
Hisept has a range of products, including hand sanitizers, antiseptic solution, surface and instrument disinfectants that can effectively kill mycobacteria. The tuberculocidal or mycobactericidal activity of these products have been proved by EN 14348 tests.
Reference:
https://www.who.int/tb/global-report-2019
https://www.cdc.gov/tb/topic/drtb/default.htm
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tuberculosis