Tropical Travel Trouble 008 Total TB Extravaganza

LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog LITFL • Life in the Fast Lane Medical Blog - Emergency medicine and critical care medical education blog
aka Tropical Travel Trouble 008
Peer Reviewer Dr McBride ID physician, Wisconsin
TB affects 1/3rd of the population and one patient dies every 20 seconds from TB. Without treatment 50% of pulmonary TB patients will be dead in 5 years. In low to middle income countries both TB and HIV can be ubiquitous, poor compliance can lead to drug resistance and malnourished infants are highly susceptible. TB can be very complex and this post will hopefully give you the backbone to TB management, its diagnosis and a starter guide to treatment. All TB patients should be discussed with an expert.
Questions:
Q1. What is Tuberculosis (TB)?
Answer and interpretation
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A disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
It is an acid-fast fungus-like bacterium.
Slow generation time – approx 17hrs which is why it can take weeks to culture.

Q2. How do you get TB and what is active vs latent infection?
Answer and interpretation
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Inhalation – hence the N-95 mask and negative pressure room.You can only be infected via an airborne contact with TB droplet nuclei.
Once the mycobacterium are inhaled you develop a primary infecti...

Source: Life in the Fast Lane - June 16, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Neil Long Tags: Clinical Cases Tropical Medicine Genexpert meningitis TB TB meningitis Tuberculosis Source Type: blogs