Tuberculosis and mycobacterium Flashcards
Importance
Highly infectious
Severe morbidity
High mortality
-people of all ages
Who is susceptible
Everyone
Epiemiology
Around >4000 years
-Egyptian mummies
1/3 world’s population infected with TB (2.3 billion)
2nd only to HIV/AIDS as greatest infectious killer worldwide
Causes 1/4 of all HIV deaths
Epidemiology 2010
- 8 million contracted disease
- 1.4 million died
- 10 million orphans
Mycobacterium tuberculosis size
2-4μm by 0.2-0.5μm (half the size of an E.coli)
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Obligate aerobe
-well-aerated upper lobes
Facultative intracellular parasite
-usually macrophages
Mycobacterium tuberculosis generation time
Slow: 15-20 hours
M.bovis
From cattle
In the UK TB most commonly affects
Lungs - pulmonary TB
TB can affect
Lungs, lymph nodes, bones, joints and kidneys
Can cause meningitis
How do people catch TB?
Most commonly spread in droplets being coughed or sneezed into the air
Frequent or close prolonged contact with infected person necessary
At risk
More likely to affect people whose immune systems are already weakened
- HIV infection
- steroids, chemotherapy, transplants, elderly
- unhealthy, over-crowded conditions
- stay in high-rate country (S.E Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, part E. Europe)
- those exposed to TB in youth
- children of parents from high-rate countries
- prisoners, drug addicts, alcoholics
- malnourished
Primary TB
Droplet nuclei inhaled
Taken up by alveolar macrophages - not activated (lipids)
Droplet nuclei (c. 5μ) reach alveoli where infection begins
Primary TB - granuloma in lung (Ghon focus) + enlarged lymph nodes
Primary focus
Walled off
What is secondary (post primary) TB
Reactivation of dormant mycobacteria
-impaired immune function
Reinfection in person previoulsy sensitised to mycobacterial antigens
When and where does secondary TB occur
Months, years or decades after primary infection
Reactivation most commonly occurs at apex of lungs - highly oxygenated
How does secondary TB work
Caseous (cheese-like) centres of tubercles liquefy
Organisms grow very rapidly in this
Large Ag load
-bronchi walls become necrotic and rupture
-cavity formation
-organisms spill into airways and spread to other areas of lung - highly infectious
Primary lesions heal - Ghon complex, Simon foci
Miliary TB
Widespread dissemination (spread) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis via hematogenous spread