Pointing out that approximately ten percent of people with tuberculosis microbes in their bodies may have tuberculosis at some point in their lives, Chest Diseases specialist Dr. Esra Ekbiç Kadıoğlu stated that the tuberculosis microbe is an infectious disease that can spread through droplets formed during coughing, sneezing and speaking.
IT IS NOT A GENETIC DISEASE
Stating that tuberculosis (TB), known as “thin disease” among the people, is a treatable disease, it can cause serious consequences such as death in cases that are detected late and untreated. Kadıoğlu said that tuberculosis is not genetic, that healthy individuals can get the microbe by breathing in droplets of tuberculosis bacillus from people who have been in the same environment for a long time, that the disease will not develop in every infected person, that the bacilli taken can remain dormant in the body without making the person sick, and that they can cause disease when the body resistance drops.
Stating that the disease can develop in the first two years in the infected person, Dr. Kadıoğlu said that the tuberculosis microbe stays in the air for a long time in sunless environments, but ultraviolet rays from the sun kill the tuberculosis microbe in a short time, so the places where people live in crowded areas should be ventilated.
There is a high probability that a tuberculosis patient will infect those living in the same house, so when the tuberculosis diagnosis is finalized, Chest Diseases specialist Dr. Esra Ekbiç Kadıoğlu stated that 8-9 percent of patients in our country are diagnosed with contact examination, and up to 90 percent of those who are not sick and at risk are prevented from getting sick with preventive treatment.
IF YOU HAVE A Cough lasting longer than 3 weeks
Stating that symptoms such as cough lasting more than 2-3 weeks, unresponsive to treatment, blood in sputum, fever, night sweats, fatigue, weakness, weight loss, loss of appetite, shortness of breath, chest and back pain should be taken into account, Chest Diseases specialist Dr. Esra Ekbiç Kadıoğlu explained that the diagnosis was made by the patient’s complaints, chest X-ray findings, sputum or other materials taken from the patient, and tuberculosis bacillus in the sputum.
Talking about the treatment of tuberculosis microbe, Dr. Esra Ekbic Kadıoğlu said:
“In order to definitively kill the microbe and prevent it from causing disease again, at least 4 drugs are used at the beginning and the number of drugs is reduced after 2 or 3 months according to the results of the sputum controls. The treatment lasts at least 6 months and because the tuberculosis microbe grows slower than other microbes, the drugs take longer. “When drugs are not used regularly, microbes show resistance to drugs and become resistant tuberculosis. In this type of disease, treatment is much more difficult and the drug should be used for 18-24 months,” he said.
VACCINE PROTECTS
Chest Diseases specialist Dr. Esra Ekbiç Kadıoğlu, BCG vaccine is administered to babies who have completed their second month after birth in our country, in order to prevent the disease that will develop in adulthood, to provide protection against severe and fatal forms of tuberculosis, especially in children, which are seen in blood (miliary) and He explained that it is protective against forms of tuberculosis that involve the meningitis. Stating that the most effective way to prevent tuberculosis disease in terms of public health is to quickly diagnose infectious patients and start appropriate treatment, Chest Diseases specialist Dr. Esra Ekbiç Kadıoğlu stated that 2-3 days after the treatment is started, the number of bacilli decreases rapidly and in 2-3 weeks, the contagiousness will decrease to a large extent.
(DHA)