Symptoms, causes, treatment of secondary pulmonary TB

Condition analysis:
About 90 - 95 % of cases with secondary tuberculosis in adults occur by the reactivation of the latent primary infection, the other cases resulting from reinfection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The initial lesion in secondary tuberculosis is the apical nodule, which presents as a uni- or bilateral, small-sized (max. 3 cm), yellow-grey, low consistency (caseous necrosis) solid nodular mass. After treatment, the apical nodule cures by fibrosis and calcium salts impregnation.

If you or someone you know has pulmonary TB, they will commonly have symptoms such as, continuous cough, bloody cough, consistent fever,low-grade fevers, night sweats, chest pains, unexplained weight loss.

Instructions:
Tuberculosis drugs have to be taken regularly, typically for 6 to 12 months. Many patients abandon their treatment when they feel better; similarly, preventive treatment is often abandoned because of the inconvenience. Such noncompliance is believed to be the main reason for the upsurge in drug-resistant strains of the TB bacilli, many of which are resistant to more than one drug. Drug-resistant TB is difficult to treat and has a much higher death rate; extensively resistant TB is especially worrisome because it can be essentially untreatable.