Zoonotic Disease
Zoonotic Disease
Zoonotic Disease
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis has existed since antiquity, due to the variety of its symptoms, TB
was not identified as a single disease until the 1820s. Robert Koch( German
physician and microbiologist) identified and described the bacillus causing
tuberculosis, M.tuberculosis(Koch’s bacillus) on 24th March 1882. in 1905, he
was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery.
Risk factors: people spend a lot of time around animals such as diary
workers…, people with close contact with people with TB, use of certain
medications such as corticosteroids and infliximab, active disease risk( the
most important risk factor globally for developing active TB is concurrent
HIV. Other risk factors include: alcoholism, tobacco smoking, silicosis,
diabetes mellitus, genetic susceptibility and indoor air pullotion.
Signs and symptoms: a cough that lasts three weeks or longer, coughing
up blood or phlegm, chest pain, weakness or fatigue, weight loss, loss of
appetite, chills , fever and night sweats. Other symptoms including, lymph
nodes(a firm red or purple swelling under the skin, kidneys(blood in the
urine), brain(headache or confusion) and larynx(hoarseness).
Diagnosis: The incubation period for TB is typically 2-10 weeks but it can
range from weeks to years.
Medical history, imaging(CT scan, X-ray), Laboratory tests(TB
blood test, sputum smear or culture), Tuberculin Skin Test is often used for
latent tuberculosis.