Preview

M. Tuberculosis

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2103 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
M. Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known as consumption, is an infectious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). TB is the leading cause of death in the world among reported deaths caused by a bacterial infectious disease. The disease affects 1.8 billion people per year, which is equal to one-third of the entire world population (Todar). Pulmonary tuberculosis accounts for the majority of the TB cases in the United States (Todar). Bovine tuberculosis is another infectious form of TB caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium bovis (Tortora, Funke, and Case 690). M. bovis is the etiologic agent of TB in cows and rarely in humans. Both cows and humans can serve as reservoirs. Humans can also be infected with M. bovis by the consumption of unpasteurized milk. This route of transmission can lead to the development of extrapulmonary TB, exemplified in history by bone infections that led to hunched backs (Todar). M. bovis accounts for only 1% of TB cases in humans in the United States. Another bacterium associated with TB that forms in patients with the late stages of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is Mycobacterium avium-intrecellulare (Tortora, Funke, and Case 690).
According to Todar, M. tuberculosis is a fairly large nonmotile rod-shaped bacterium distantly related to the Actinomycetes. The rods are 2-4 micrometers in length and 0.2-0.5 um in width. Many non-pathogenic mycobacteria are components of the normal flora of humans, found most often in dry and oily locations. M. tuberculosis is an obligate aerobe. For this reason, in the classic case of tuberculosis, MTB complexes are always found in the well-aerated upper lobes of the lungs. The bacterium is a facultative intracellular parasite, usually of macrophages, and has a slow generation time, 15-20 hours, and a physiological characteristic that may contribute to its virulence. Todar also states that the cell wall structure of M. tuberculosis deserves special



Cited: Center for TB Research Laboratory. Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. . Gerard J. Tortora, Berdell R. Funke, Christine L. Case. Microbiolgy an Introduction. Glenview: Pearson Education, Inc. , 2010. Kenneth Todar, PhD. Todar 's Online Textbook of Bacteriology. 20 Oct. 2011. 27 Nov. 2012 . Mycobacteria. National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), 29 Nov. 2011. Web. 28 Nov. 2012 . . New TB Vaccine Approach Shows Promise in Mice. National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, 6 Sept. 2011. Web. 28 Nov. 2012 . < http://www.niaid.nih.gov/ news/newsreleases/2011/Pages/TBrecombinantVax.aspx>. Liem Nguyen. Targeting Antibiotic Resistance Mechanisms in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. 22 Nov. 2012. Web. 26 Nov. 2012 . Reema Bansal, Arman Sharma, Amod Gupta. Introcular Tuberculosis. 19 Nov. 2012. Web. 26 Nov. 2012 . Tory Brown. Rapid TB Test Could Improve Treatment. 26 Nov. 2012. Web. 28 Nov. 2012 .

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Tuberculosis

    • 2267 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Before the 20th century, there was little hope of survival for patients diagnosed with tuberculosis. The disease was considered impossible to fight and the only course of remedy was staying healthy by managing a healthy diet and getting plenty of rest (Goldberg et al., 2012). In 1921, advancements in scientific research led to the development of the first vaccine, known as Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) (Lienhardt et al., 2012). The discovery of streptomycin (SM) along with paraaminosalicylic acid (PAS) led to a major breakthrough in tuberculosis control known as combination therapy (Goldberg et al., 2012). By combining the medicinal affects of both drugs, tuberculosis finally had an effective method of recovery. Isoniazid was added to the multi-therapy approach after it was discovered in 1951 and together the three drugs cured infected patients within 18-24 months (Lienhardt et al., 2012). Over the years this therapy was altered with the addition and deletion of various drugs and ultimately became the cardinal method of TB control (Goldberg et al., 2012). PAS was replaced with ethambutol in the 1960s, rifampicin was added in the 1970s, and streptomycin was substituted by pyrazinamide in the 1980s (Lienhardt et al., 2012). Today this serious infection is treated with a method known as DOTS- directly observed therapy short course (Weltman et al., 2012). “DOTS includes finding as many highly infected patients with TB as possible, initiating effective treatment, directly observing drug ingestion to ensure adherence, and standardized monitoring, evaluation, and reporting” (Weltman et al., 2012). The drugs utilized in tuberculosis control have brought researchers and doctors closer to diminishing the deaths caused by this endemic.…

    • 2267 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Tuberculosis is caused from a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. M. tuberculosis is an obligate aerobe that grows in tissues with a high oxygenated content, such as the lungs. It is a slow growing bacteria that takes anywhere from 12 to 20 hours to generate. The cells are hydrophobic and have high lipid content in the cell wall and tend to clump together. TB is an airborne disease that is spread from person to person by coughing, sneezing, or speaking. Tuberculosis is diagnosed by a simple skin test that if positive will show a reaction to a small quantity of tuberculosis antigens. A positive confirmation can be made by a chest X-ray, and a microscopic examination of a sputum sample.…

    • 960 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    As time progressed, science advanced and by 1918, the Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine was created. “The vaccine is administered shortly after birth only in infants at high risk of tuberculosis. BCG vaccine produces an immune response that partly protects infants and young children from serious forms of tuberculosis” (Hansen-Flaschen). This vaccine proved to be effective in children at high risk and continues to be one of the only available vaccines for tuberculosis. At this…

    • 675 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tuberculosis and Body

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Tuberculosis (also known as "TB") is a disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis which infects white blood cells. It mainly infects the lungs, although it can affect other organs as well.…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tuberculosis, TB (tubercle bacillus) or MTB (mycobacterium tuberculosis) is a widespread, and in numerous cases fatal, communicable disease produced by a variety of forms of mycobacteria. The disease is distributed within the air when individuals who are infected with active TB infection sneeze, cough, or pass on breathing fluids throughout the air. Generally infections are asymptomatic, meaning they feel or show no symptoms, and dormant, but then again approximately one in ten dormant infections in the long run move on to the active disease. If left untouched, active TB is fatal to more than half of those infected.…

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Tubercolosis

    • 1499 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB (short for tubercle bacillus) is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis.[1] Tuberculosis typically attacks the lungs, but can also affect other parts of the body. It is spread through the air when people who have an active TB infection cough, sneeze, or otherwise transmit respiratory fluids through the air.[2] Most infections are asymptomatic and latent, but about one in ten latent infections eventually progresses to active disease which, if left untreated, kills more than 50% of those so infected.…

    • 1499 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tuberculosis is a widely known disease that is lethal in many cases which may occur in any parts of the body but mostly in the lungs. This disease begins with mild symptom but exacerbates to severe conditions ranging across the fever, chronic cough, weight loss, fatigue, and night sweats. While the 90 to 95 percent of infections may remain latent or dormant, it is deathly enough to kill more than a half of the patients once the infection becomes activated. This disease can be easily transported and spread by the air that the infected patients cough or sneeze. Its swift and easy transmission had leaded this disease to be one of the most prevalent diseases in the world, while the discovery of mycobacterium tuberculosis by a scientist named Robert Koch has brought a chance of decrease.…

    • 517 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Tuberculosis

    • 259 Words
    • 2 Pages

    One third of the world's population is thought to have been infected with M. tuberculosis,[3] with new infections occurring in about 1% of the population each year.[4] In 2007, there were an estimated 13.7 million chronic active cases globally,[5] while in 2010, there were an estimated 8.8 million new cases and 1.5 million associated deaths, mostly occurring in developing countries.[6] The absolute number of tuberculosis cases has been decreasing since 2006, and new cases have decreased since 2002.[6] The distribution of tuberculosis is not uniform across the globe; about 80% of the population in many Asian and African countries test positive in tuberculin tests, while only 5–10% of the United States population tests positive.[1] More people in the developing world contract tuberculosis because of compromised immunity, largely due to high rates of HIV infection and the corresponding development of…

    • 259 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pulmonary Tuberculosis

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The pulmonary Tuberculosis disease is very contagious and is the world’s leading cause of death. (Wahid, Jarls berg, Rudoy, de Jong, Unger, Kawamura, & Daley, 2011). It has been proven that when a person has pulmonary tuberculosis and it is accompanied by another disease such as HIV, or E-o=P' diabetes the infected persons risk of death is increased. The risk of death increased when tuberculosis is accompanied by a second disease, because the infected person’s immune system is weaker than normal. Most cases of pulmonary tuberculosis the person more than likely became infected in the past. Some of the Symptoms a person infected with pulmonary tuberculosis are coughing up blood, unintentional weight loss, and excessive sweating.…

    • 726 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Tuberculosis has been present in humans since antiquity. The earliest unambiguous detection of “mycobacterium tuberculosis” is in the remains of bison dated 18,000 years before the present. Whether tuberculosis originated in cattle and then transferred to humans, or diverged from a common ancestor infecting a different species, is currently unclear. However, it is clear that “M.Tuberculosis” is not directly descended from “M.bovis”, which seems to have evolved relatively recently.…

    • 3427 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB, in the past also called phthisis, phthisis pulmonalis, or consumption, is a widespread, and in many cases fatal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis typically attacks the lungs, but can also affect other parts of the body. It is spread through the air when people who have an active TB infection cough, sneeze, or otherwise transmit respiratory fluids through the air. Most infections do not have symptoms, known as latent tuberculosis. About one in ten latent infections eventually progresses to active disease which, if left untreated, kills more than 50% of those so infected.…

    • 259 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Tuberculosis is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis typically attacks the lungs, but can also affect other parts of the body. It is spread through the air when people who have an active TB infection cough, sneeze, or otherwise transmit respiratory fluids through the air. Most infections are asymptomatic and latent, but about one in ten latent infections eventually progresses to active disease which, if left untreated, kills more than 50% of those so infected.…

    • 2406 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pulmonary Tuberculosis

    • 2624 Words
    • 11 Pages

    The primary infectious agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis,is an acid-fast aerobic rod that grows slowly and is sensitive to heat and ultraviolet light. Mycobacterium bovis and Mycobacterium avium have rarely been associated with the development of a TB infection (Brunner and Suddarth, 2003). In healthy people, infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis often causes no symptoms, since the person's immune system acts to “wall off” the bacteria. Tuberculosis is treatable with a six-month course of antibiotics (World Health Organization, 2013).…

    • 2624 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Tuberculosis, or TB, is an infectious bacterial disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly affects the lungs. It is transmitted from person to person via droplets from the throat and lungs of people with the active respiratory disease.…

    • 10427 Words
    • 42 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Tuberculosis is a serious chronic pulmonary and systemic disease caused most often by M. tuberculosis. The source of transmission is humans with active tuberculosis who release mycobacteria present in sputum. Oropharyngeal and intestinal tuberculosis contracted by drinking milk contaminated with M. bovis is rare in countries where milk is routinely pasteurized, but it is still seen in countries that have tuberculous dairy cows and unpasteurized milk.…

    • 4017 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Better Essays