Introduction to tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is the most common form of tuberculosis. Clinically, it can be roughly divided into four types: primary tuberculosis, miliary tuberculosis, infiltrative tuberculosis and cavitary tuberculosis. Primary tuberculosis refers to the disease caused by the first infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In our country, 80 to 90% of lung infections occur through the respiratory tract. Primary pulmonary tuberculosis often has no obvious signs, and some are accompanied by mild systemic symptoms such as fatigue, low-grade fever, and loss of appetite. If primary tuberculosis can be treated promptly and thoroughly, the prognosis is generally good. Miliary tuberculosis is caused by the blood spread of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and is a serious disease. Invasive pulmonary tuberculosis is generally considered to be the development of primary tuberculosis and is more common in adults who have been infected by tuberculosis. Cavitary tuberculosis is chronic tuberculosis due to delayed diagnosis and incomplete treatment. The clinical manifestations of pulmonary tuberculosis are diverse. In addition to the above symptoms, severe cases include high fever and night sweats. It is best to achieve early detection, early diagnosis and early treatment. The preventive measures for tuberculosis are: developing good hygiene habits and not spitting, conducting regular lung health examinations, isolating tuberculosis patients, especially those who live in collectives, should be vaccinated with the BCG vaccine.

Tuberculosis, the “white plague” of the 19th century, had “pale complexion, emaciated body, and bursts of heartbreaking coughs…” There were many such descriptions in novels and dramas of the 19th century, causing What made these people in this condition was tuberculosis, also known as "consumption", which was known as the "white plague" at the time.

In the 19th century, countless people lost relatives or friends to this ruthless and severe infectious disease. Although the emergence of a variety of effective antibiotics and preventive drugs in the 20th century made tuberculosis cases spread rapidly around the world. decrease, but it would be a mistake to let down your guard as a result. The World Health Organization warns that tuberculosis has been making a comeback around the world in recent years, and the prevention and control of this infectious disease cannot be slackened.

In 1882, German scientist Robert Koch announced the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and divided it into four types: human, bovine, bird and mouse. Among them, the human type bacterium is the main pathogen of human tuberculosis. . Tuberculosis is a highly contagious chronic wasting disease mainly caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis invading the lungs. Common clinical manifestations include cough, sputum, hemoptysis, chest pain, fever, fatigue, loss of appetite and other local and systemic symptoms. More than 90% of pulmonary tuberculosis is transmitted through the respiratory tract. Patients cough, sneeze, make loud noises, etc. to spray bacterial-carrying fluid out of the body. Healthy people will become infected after inhaling it.

In 1945, the advent of the specific drug streptomycin made tuberculosis no longer an incurable disease. Since then, the successive synthesis of drugs such as remiphon, rifampin, and ethambutol has significantly reduced the number of tuberculosis patients worldwide. In terms of prevention, Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination and chemical prevention are the main methods. Among them, the advent of isoniazid in 1952 made chemical drug prevention successful. Isoniazid has strong bactericidal power, few side effects, and is economical, so it is easy to take. Taking it for 6 to 12 months can reduce the incidence of disease by 50% to 60% within 10 years.

The advent of antibiotics, BCG vaccine and chemotherapy drugs was a milestone victory in the history of mankind's fight against tuberculosis. For this reason, in the early 1980s, the United States even believed that tuberculosis would be eliminated by the end of the 20th century. However, this stubborn "tuberculosis" has launched a new round of challenges to mankind. According to a report by the World Health Organization, tuberculosis has been resurgent around the world in recent years. In 1995, 3 million people died of the disease worldwide, which was the year with the highest death toll from the disease, greatly exceeding the peak of tuberculosis in 1900. On the occasion of "World Tuberculosis Day" on March 24, 2003, figures released by the World Action Organization "Stop TB" showed that 5,000 people still die from tuberculosis every day around the world, and more than 8 million people suffer from tuberculosis every year.

The main reason for the above situation is the neglect of policies in many parts of the world in the past 20 years, which has led to the destruction or even disappearance of the tuberculosis prevention and control system; the probability of AIDS patients contracting tuberculosis is 30 times that of ordinary people, and most AIDS patients All the patients died of tuberculosis. With the spread of AIDS around the world, the number of tuberculosis patients is also increasing rapidly. The emergence of multiple drug-resistant tuberculosis strains has increased the difficulty of tuberculosis prevention and treatment.

For this reason, the World Health Organization declared a "global tuberculosis emergency." In order to further promote global publicity activities for the prevention and control of tuberculosis, the organization decided at the end of 1995 to designate March 24 each year as "World Tuberculosis Day", and in 1997 announced a program called "Directly Observed Short-Term Treatment" ” action plan, which aims to cure 95% of tuberculosis patients. The core of this plan is that medical workers directly supervise patients to take medications to prevent patients from delaying treatment and causing the disease to spread widely. The latest social evaluation results of tuberculosis prevention and control in China released by the Ministry of Health of my country show that Chinese citizens have low awareness that tuberculosis is contagious and can be cured, and have low awareness of tuberculosis prevention and treatment institutions and the provision of free diagnosis and treatment. Concern about discrimination is high.

First of all, although bone tuberculosis, meningeal tuberculosis, etc. are not contagious, some common types of pulmonary tuberculosis are contagious. However, only pulmonary tuberculosis patients whose sputum can detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis are contagious. When these patients cough, sneeze, or speak loudly, their saliva may be sprayed on other people's faces, which may cause infection.

Second, except for a few cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis that linger, the vast majority of tuberculosis can be cured. However, it needs to be emphasized that formal and complete treatment of tuberculosis must last for 6 to 8 months, and requires a combination of multiple drugs to achieve complete cure. The modern tuberculosis control strategy proposed by the World Health Organization requires patients to take medicine under the supervision of medical staff every time. Many patients underestimate the condition or stop taking medication privately due to side effects, failing to receive scientific and standardized treatment, which may lead to the emergence of drug-resistant strains and increase the difficulty of treatment. Third, our country’s medical and health institutions at the county level and above, as well as towns and cities, have specialized institutions for the examination and treatment of tuberculosis. The state provides free anti-tuberculosis drugs and major examinations to patients with infectious pulmonary tuberculosis. In order to strengthen the management of the national tuberculosis epidemic and ensure that patients receive scientific and standardized treatment, the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases" stipulates that pulmonary tuberculosis patients and suspected patients must undergo unified examination, supervision of chemotherapy and treatment at tuberculosis prevention and treatment institutions. manage.

Finally, only patients with pulmonary tuberculosis who have a positive sputum smear test for Mycobacterium tuberculosis are contagious. Two to three weeks after tuberculosis patients begin receiving regular drug treatment, they are generally no longer contagious and can participate in normal social activities. Society should provide care and attention to tuberculosis patients and should not discriminate against tuberculosis patients.

At the end of 1995, the World Health Organization designated March 24 every year as "World Tuberculosis Day" to commemorate Robert Kohoe, the discoverer of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and further called on governments to strengthen the prevention and control of tuberculosis. Attention and support for prevention and control work. March 24, 2005 is the tenth World Tuberculosis Day. This year's theme is "Prevent and Treat Tuberculosis, Early Diagnosis and Treatment, Strengthen Grassroots". Fight tuberculosis while supplementing "D"

What are the immunization methods for tuberculosis?

What is modern chemotherapy for tuberculosis?

Early self-diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis

Liver function should be checked regularly when taking anti-tuberculosis drugs

What are the initial treatment and re-treatment of tuberculosis?

Rational chemotherapy for tuberculosis: treatment and prevention can be a "win-win"

Dietary taboos for tuberculosis patients

Ten essentials for relatives of tuberculosis patients

Control Four Key Points to Tuberculosis

When you have a tuberculosis patient around you

What should a tuberculosis patient not eat

Can you get married during active stage of tuberculosis?

Can vaccination with BCG prevent tuberculosis for life

Myth 1: Tuberculosis is easy to cure

When antibiotics were widely used in the middle of this century, Mycobacterium tuberculosis was also attacked. A devastating disaster.

The evil hand of tuberculosis that harms mankind has been curbed, and the mortality rate of tuberculosis patients has been greatly reduced. People have breathed a sigh of relief and no longer talk about "tuberculosis". As a result, the impression that "tuberculosis is curable" was formed in people's minds.

Since the 1980s, due to the abuse of antibiotics and irregular treatment, a large number of tuberculosis patients have developed drug resistance. According to statistics, drug-resistant tuberculosis patients account for approximately 28-41 of the total number of first-time treatment recipients. This has sounded the alarm for people: tuberculosis is difficult to cure, and 1/3 of patients cannot be cured at one time. This is a very worrying situation.

Myth 2: Tuberculosis is only prone to outbreaks in backward rural areas

In the past, it was generally believed that tuberculosis was a disease of poverty and only occurred in poor rural areas. Now this impression is broken by the cruel reality. In the past ten years, the number of tuberculosis patients in my country's cities has increased sharply. The main reason is that the environmental quality has deteriorated day by day. Water, air, food, etc. necessary for people's daily life have been polluted by industry. People's resistance has declined. Airborne tuberculosis has become more common. There is a tendency of resurgence.

In fact, it is because the incidence rate of hepatitis and AIDS and the number of drug carriers have increased sharply, which has also brought a free ride on the incidence of tuberculosis. Hepatitis and tuberculosis, and AIDS and tuberculosis have become a new disease. mode of infection. There are currently 5.9 million tuberculosis patients in our country. According to expert analysis, about half of the 5.9 million tuberculosis patients are infectious. According to the World Health Organization, tuberculosis outbreaks have occurred in some large cities in developed countries, and the incidence rate is much higher than that in developing countries. There is an abnormal phenomenon that tuberculosis spreads faster in cities than in rural areas.

Myth 3: Tuberculosis will kill only a few people

In the past, people thought that cancer was the most terrifying thing. Once you get cancer, it is equivalent to a death sentence, so talking about cancer is a disgrace. As for tuberculosis, it is generally believed that it is not a terminal disease. Even if it cannot be cured at once, it will not kill anyone. This view is dead wrong. There are currently 5.9 million tuberculosis patients in our country, and 250,000 people die from tuberculosis every year, which is equivalent to one Tangshan earthquake every year.

Myth 4: Refractory tuberculosis is incurable

Refractory tuberculosis caused by drug resistance, allergies, severe comorbidities and other reasons has been listed as a difficult problem in world medicine. Since this group of patients only accounts for about 6% of all patients who receive chemotherapy, and a large part of them die due to lack of treatment in a short period of time, they have not attracted enough attention in the medical community. Is refractory tuberculosis really incurable? no. Clinical studies have proven that refractory tuberculosis can be cured with the right treatments.

Tuberculosis Nursing Guide

·Dietary Taboos for Tuberculosis Patients

·Main Common Symptoms of Tuberculosis

·Tuberculosis Nursing

·Traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis

·Traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis

Smoking and tuberculosis

·Smoking can promote the occurrence and activity of tuberculosis

·The prevalence of tuberculosis in smokers is significantly higher than that in non-smokers

·As the number of smokers increases, the number of people suffering from tuberculosis also increases

·Smoking is often delayed Discovery and diagnosis of tuberculosis

·Smoking affects the treatment of tuberculosis

AIDS and tuberculosis

·AIDS patients have reduced immunity, and the chance of developing tuberculosis is 30% of that of ordinary people times

·1/3 of AIDS patients die from tuberculosis

·Once AIDS patients are complicated by tuberculosis, they will affect each other, promote disease progression and deterioration, and eventually lead to death

Diabetes and Tuberculosis

·Due to metabolic disorders, malnutrition, and low resistance, people with diabetes are prone to tuberculosis and are about four times more likely to develop tuberculosis than people without diabetes. Diabetic patients should check for the presence of tuberculosis

·When diabetes is complicated by tuberculosis, the tuberculosis lesions progress rapidly and are widespread, easily forming cavities. Tuberculosis also affects the occurrence and development of diabetes

Early detection and timely treatment are the keys to controlling the two diseases. Be wary of diabetes combined with tuberculosis, and be wary of the presence of diabetes when treatment for tuberculosis is not effective.

Once diagnosed, both diseases should be treated reasonably at the same time.

Tuberculosis Health Network. Consultation hotline: 0855-3824785 Tuberculosis News The herb that cures tuberculosis in 30 days was found. Introduction to the magical rotten lung grass. Warm reminder that rotten lung grass is only used after starting treatment. What should patients pay attention to? Atypical clinical manifestations of tuberculosis. Systemic symptoms of tuberculosis. Susceptible factors to determine tuberculosis...

If someone links the famous 19th-century French writer Alexandre Dumas with Lin Daiyu in "A Dream of Red Mansions", and also talks about the fate of the last Russian tsar in the early 20th century You must think it is absurd that the decline is related to the famous Queen Victoria of England in the early 19th century. However, there is indeed an incredible connection between human diseases and literature and art, and the most common one is tuberculosis. On the one hand, tuberculosis makes beauty wither and makes life disappear; on the other hand, tuberculosis makes the whole world romantic and elegant. This is an inexplicable myth brought to us by "Falling Autumn Leaves - A Cultural History of Tuberculosis".

"The Captain of Human Death"

The great British poet Keats wrote a poem in 1819: "Young people grow pale and skinny. , Returned to Daoshan soon..." Two years later, he died of tuberculosis at the age of 26. That poem is a reflection of himself. The era when Keats lived was the era when tuberculosis was at its most rampant, and tuberculosis was the main cause of death at that time. For this reason, Keats gave tuberculosis a special nickname: "The Captain of Human Death."

Is tuberculosis really that powerful? According to information, since the German scientist Koch discovered the tuberculosis bacterium in 1882, the number of deaths due to tuberculosis has reached 200 million. The latest data show that the number of deaths from tuberculosis patients worldwide has increased from 2.5 million in 1990 to 3.5 million in 2000. 75% of tuberculosis deaths occur in the most productive age group (15-45 years old). Two billion people worldwide are infected with tuberculosis, with an annual infection rate of 1, which means approximately 65 million people are infected with tuberculosis every year.

It is worth noting that tuberculosis seems to be more willing to favor people in the literary and artistic circles. In addition to Keats, well-known literary and artistic figures such as his eponymous British poet Shelley, author of "Treasure Island" Stevenson, pianist Chopin and violinist Paganini all suffered from tuberculosis. In addition, from the model Simonetta Vespucci in the 15th century to the writer Katherine Mansfield in the 1920s and the movie star Vivien Leigh more than 30 years ago, these sojourners and creators of beauty have been criticized. After the attack of this disease, it withers and withers like a flower, which makes people sigh and miss them incomparably. The book provides an in-depth analysis of their characteristics: most of these people are intelligent, talented, and often sentimental. In particular, their feelings are particularly strong and delicate, even to the point of being overly sensitive and fragile. Perhaps it is precisely because of the existence of this reason that tuberculosis can wreak havoc on them more cruelly.

Beautiful myths

If you read novels from the 18th and 19th centuries, or watch stories about that era in movies or TV, you will often find one of them** *Similar points: Almost all have a character suffering from "consumption" - a sick child, a dying artist trying to complete his masterpiece, a mother who is bedridden and unable to take care of the family... They are pale, weak, and often cough blood and slowly lose weight. This is a typical description of tuberculosis symptoms.

Why were writers of that era so fond of tuberculosis? The answer is interesting and makes sense. When humans were unable to control tuberculosis, tuberculosis seemed to have become an "artist's disease." This is determined by the mechanism of the disease and the personality characteristics of the artist. When the myth of tuberculosis became widespread, tuberculosis was a sign of sophistication, delicacy, and sensuality to both the laity and the nouveau riche. In addition, at a time when nobility was no longer a right but merely a symbol, the face of a tuberculosis patient became a new model for the aristocratic face. What’s even more interesting is that judging from a rather rigorous medical and literary perspective, tuberculosis has a “morbid beauty” that perfectly meets the needs of the author’s romantic projection of passion and plot arrangement.

What's more, Byron said, "I wish I had died of consumption," while the strong, energetic Alexandre Dumas tried to pretend to have it. They did this because tuberculosis was the fashion of the day.

It can be seen that although tuberculosis is a bad disease, it is also a leisurely and comfortable disease. Due to the nature of tuberculosis, the final destination of death for most patients with this disease, and the morbid beauty formed during the illness, are of course what romantic artists pursue, such as those in Xiao Dumas' "La Traviata" and Cao Xueqin's "Dream of Red Mansions" Lin Daiyu of Lin Daiyu belongs to this case. Taking "La Traviata" as an example, Dumas focused on the description of the characteristics of the heroine, a tuberculosis patient. He wrote that her body appeared "slender and slim" due to the consumption of the disease; her cheeks were darkened due to occasional low-grade fever. The red "rose color", which is a sickly blush; and her "slender and straight" nose, which is "slightly bulging in the nose, like a strong desire for sexual life" due to fever and excessive sexual desire... are all shown. The romantic sentiment of the writer himself. It is not difficult to understand that in the creation of "La Traviata", the writer vented his pent-up emotions, relived a love that was stronger than reality, and displayed his romantic feelings, which made Xiao Zhong As Ma himself said, "I feel...as if I have experienced...the painter's happiness in expressing himself through depicting characters."

Illness makes people have a need for catharsis. People's hearts need to be comforted and they need to overcome the fear of disease. Psychologically speaking, literature conforms to these expression procedures. Literature, music and other arts can not only express people's normal psychology, but also express people's abnormal psychology. Literature has a specificity that other media cannot achieve when it comes to the weaknesses and dark sides of human nature. This is also the understandable reason why many writers and artists "like" to suffer from the "artistic disease" of tuberculosis. Because only literature and art can release them.

The title of the book "Falling Autumn Leaves" profoundly contains the true meaning. Since ancient times, people have regarded autumn as a season of maturity and harvest. This makes them see the mountains full of red leaves, which are indescribably beautiful under the golden sunlight. But it is also autumn. In the eyes of romantic writers, its beauty is not because it is a mature and abundant season, but because of the withered and falling autumn leaves that come with this season. No wonder the German natural scientist Alexander von Humboldt said: "The ancients only really discovered the beauty of nature when it smiled, showed friendliness and was useful to them. The romantics did the opposite: they found nature in a wild state, Or it is most beautiful when it evokes a vague sense of terror in them."

This may be the mythical cultural background unique to tuberculosis.