San Diego and other cities are being attacked by Tuberculosis. What was once an easily treatable disease is on the rise and becoming harder to cure. This is because there are now strains of TB that have become resistant to the usual treatments.

Tuberculosis is an airborne disease. It can only be spread from person to person through coughing, sneezing, and speaking. It takes only two weeks for a person to become sick. Not all people infected with the germ get TB. Only about 10% will come down with it. The germ can lay dominant for years, only to become active at an inopportune time.

Tuberculosis can come in many forms attacking the lungs and many other parts of the body. The increase in cases of Tuberculosis is due to the large number of people with immune weakened bodies and shrinking resources for healthcare follow ups. The influx of people from Third World countries is helping to re-introduce Tuberculosis. The disease is now becoming resistant to the multiple antibiotic treatments available. The poverty worldwide has us seeing three million cases a year.

The symptoms of Tuberculosis are: night sweats, unexplained weight loss, and bringing up bloody sputum. X-rays and sputum cultures are used to positively identify the disease.

Treatment like the disease is slow. It takes many months and often multiple drugs are needed to cure this illness. Treatment once started must be continued to prevent the germs from becoming resistant and spreading to others. We must be vigilant in watching out for these symptoms and fighting this disease. It is an insidious disease and can be a killer.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 at 5:30 pm and is filed under Diseases. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.