Cough with tuberculosis: features and symptoms

A cough lasting more than one week, and it is accompanied by a fever. Perhaps these are signs of tuberculosis? Do not hesitate. After all, it can be not just an acute respiratory disease.

What is pulmonary tuberculosis?

Tuberculosis is a disease caused by mycobacteria that spread in tissues saturated with blood and oxygen. For this reason, the lungs are most affected. Of course, the disease can develop in other organs. Treatment is successful, but requires a course of six months to a year, and in some cases can last for years (all depends on what cough with pulmonary tuberculosis). Previously, this disease was considered the most common. But with the appearance of antibiotics cough with tuberculosis began to occur less frequently. To date, the disease is gaining momentum, as the emergence of various strains of tuberculosis led to resistance to antibiotics. There is a disease in such forms as open and closed. With the first form of a bacterium, which in the body is suppressed by the immune system, does not pose any threat to the surrounding people. However, this form can go to the open if the person does not conduct proper treatment. With the second form, the patient has the ability to infect others. The most common form of infection is to inhale the air that the infected exhaled.

Who is at risk of contracting tuberculosis?

The greatest risk is for people:

• With weak immunity (infants, HIV-infected);
• People who have close contact with the infected (living in the same room);
• Those who care for patients with tuberculosis (doctors and nurses);
• People who are addicted to nicotine (especially those who smoke more than one pack of cigarettes a day);
• Those who live on the streets;
• People who drink alcohol and drugs;
• People whose weight is 10% less than normal;
• People who use medications for depression;
• People who are in prison.

Causes of a cough in tuberculosis

The body has the ability to fight any bacteria that enter it. However, under any stress or weakening, the body malfunctions and creates a fertile soil for the development of diseases.

The most common way of penetrating the tuberculosis rod into the body is airborne. But infection does not occur immediately - the bacterium meets the resistance of the respiratory system. The development of the wand occurs with inflammation of the upper respiratory tract and bronchi.

The most common causes of the disease: an unfavorable social situation, contact with an infected person, an incorrect lifestyle, stress, poor nutrition and weak immunity. But the main reason can be called a weak social base and the impossibility of full-fledged treatment.

Symptoms of coughing with tuberculosis

First of all, you need to listen to your body and pay attention to any changes, so as not to miss the initial stage of the disease. This is extremely important, because at first the disease may not manifest itself and be diagnosed after a lung X-ray.

The following symptoms are the first signs of the disease:

• Persistent dizziness;
• Apathy and lethargy;
• Violation of sleep;
• Severe sweating;
• Strong pallor of the body;
• The appearance of a bright blush;
• Rapid weight loss;
• lack of appetite;
• Body temperature is 37 ^° C.

At later stages, the disease manifests itself more definitely:

• Has a strong tuberculosis cough - both dry and with phlegm;
• Tachycardia, in which there is a severe shortage of air;
• Rales of varying intensity;
• high body temperature;
• Shine in the eyes and pale skin;
• Vegetovascular dystonia;
• Rapid weight loss up to ten kilograms and more;
• Appearance of blood during expectoration;
• The occurrence of pain in the chest.

Stages of tuberculosis

There are three stages of pulmonary tuberculosis:

1. Infection . It occurs only in the area where the infection falls. Usually the infected person feels well, only sometimes the primary signs of the disease may appear.
2. Hidden infections. Provided that the human immunity is very weak, the bacteria quickly spread throughout the body. In this way they will form the places of accumulation of tuberculosis bacteria on various organs.
3. Progression of the disease. The accumulation of mycobacteria affects the lungs, when ingested into the bronchi these microbes make a person a spreader of the infection.

Forms of tuberculosis

There are many forms of the disease. It depends on the form depends on the treatment and how much the disease is dangerous.

The first form is infiltrative. It is due to the fact that inflammation appears in the lungs of a person. As a result, the lung tissue becomes like cottage cheese. In some cases, this form is asymptomatic and manifests only in x-rays. Often there is expectoration in the blood, although well-being in general is not bad. Often the disease is confused with pneumonia, bronchitis and influenza.

The second form is called disseminated. And it is caused by the fact that bacteria spread through the blood and lymphatic system. Symptoms are obvious and each person is different.

The third form is cavernous, it is characterized by the appearance of a thin cavern on the lung tissue. This form is not very pronounced. It is treated with the help of medicines, physiotherapy and immunostimulating drugs.

The fourth form is called fibrous. Her bronchi are affected and emphysema, bronchiectasis and pneumosclerosis appear.

The fifth form is called focal and is secondary. It affects both one lung and both. A person has a cough with tuberculosis and a high fever, and other symptoms.

Is there tuberculosis without a cough?

Only at the beginning of the disease can develop without coughing. During this period the patient may not feel the process of intoxication taking place in his body. But over time, there is a cough.

With closed form, cough with tuberculosis does not occur.

If a person is sick with tuberculosis of organs such as bones, joints, skin, eyes, brain, kidneys, intestines and genitals, coughing does not occur .

What is a cough for tuberculosis?

There is a cough in the case of disease progression. It happens: dry (or it is also called unproductive) and moist (productive).

If a dry cough is found:

• Tuberculosis in the initial stage;
• There was a pressure on the bronchial tree lymph nodes, which increased;
• There is bronchial tuberculosis;
• Parallel occurrence of chronic bronchitis.

It is also possible due to the ingress of fluids (pus or other) from the pleura into the bronchi.

Cough with phlegm in tuberculosis has such causes:

• Rapid development of the disease;
• The form of the disease that leads to the destruction of the lungs;
• Accompaniment of chronic nonspecific bronchitis.

Expectoration in this disease occurs in a homogeneous mass without color and odor. If tuberculosis goes in parallel with another disease of the respiratory system, the sputum will be green, purulent and with a sharp unpleasant odor.

Other symptoms of tuberculosis

Cough with tuberculosis is characterized by expectoration with blood, which is a feature of some types of pulmonary tuberculosis. At first the patient coughs up the usual red blood, later it turns into clots. The temperature does not arise. However, if the blood enters the lungs, then in 90% of cases, their inflammation occurs, which occurs with a high body temperature.

Bleeding in the lungs is characterized by the appearance of bright red blood, whose volume will be more than 50 ml per day (meaning what goes through the respiratory system). When coughing up with blood, no more than 50 ml per day is released. Bleeding in the lungs is dangerous because there may be a hemorrhagic shock.

There is a cough with tuberculosis and shortness of breath when exhaling, this is due to the decrease in the area of lung tissue, patency of the bronchi and worsening of the work of the part of the brain that is responsible for breathing.

There is a squeezing pain, which becomes stronger with the slightest movement.

There is an increase in lymph nodes.

Cough in children

Cough for tuberculosis in children has the following features:

• Strong dry;
• More progresses at night and in the morning and lasts more than one month;
• With the development of the disease becomes wet with the release of purulent and blood mass;
• Cough accompanied by weakness, distracted attention, decreased efficiency.

With properly selected medication, it disappears.

Parents need to be able to distinguish cough from pulmonary tuberculosis from acute respiratory viral infection in children, since cough is also present in it, but has its own characteristics:

• Appears from the onset of the disease;
• Passes in two-five days;
• Dynamic, that is, in a short period of time it changes from dry to wet;
• Characterized by fever and all catarrhal symptoms;
• Facilitate the state of abundant drinking and taking antiviral drugs.

The most popular ways to diagnose tuberculosis

The most popular methods of diagnosis include X-ray methods, Mantoux test, dyskintest and quantiferon test.

X-ray methods are divided into:

• X-ray examination - X-ray. This is a cheap method, in which a specialist examines the organ on the screen at the moment when it is illuminated by the apparatus.
• Radiography. It is a more accurate method and draws attention to the details of any harmful process in the lungs.
• Tomography. It is used to clarify the nature of the disease. There is a tomography from several pictures.
• Fluorography. This method is common, since it is used to prevent tuberculosis, it is necessary to undergo an examination once a year.

The Mantoux test consists in introducing a special agent into the human body, tuberculin. Three days later, the expert evaluates the reaction of the body. Carry out this diagnosis every year to children, from one year to eighteen years. The advantage is the price, simplicity and the ability to check a large number of people.

The development of the reaction can be affected by many factors, then the test result will be inaccurate:

• When the child suffered a certain infection, allergies, combed the site of the injection;
• Violation of technique, poor quality of the drug;
• A false reaction occurs when there are microbes in the body that are similar to the causative agents of tuberculosis.

Diaskintest is used to exclude a false positive Mantoux reaction. Most often it is used in cases where the parents are against Mantoux. However, it gives false results if the disease is in the initial stage.

The quantum test is the most modern diagnostic technique, because it detects both active and latent form of the disease. The advantage of this method is that it is conducted in the laboratory, there is no external factors. Also, he excludes false reactions and is used regardless of the child's illnesses.

Treatment of cough in tuberculosis

If you treat cough (tuberculosis), then you should remember that all medications are taken exactly on time, the admission pass is strictly excluded. If the regimen is not followed, a form of cough that can be resistant to medicines may arise. Koch's wand can be destroyed only by the simultaneous use of five to six drugs.

But in order to cure the patient, you do not need to rely solely on medicines. Therapy is carried out in conjunction with physiotherapy and taking medications that strengthen the immune system. Do not overlook respiratory gymnastics and proper nutrition.

If the disease is started, surgical intervention is recommended. Because otherwise, a fatal outcome is possible. If the treatment is carried out correctly, then cough after tuberculosis disappears.