Tuberculosis, Lung Infections, and Respiratory Care

Diagnosis and treatment of Tuberculosis

Diagnosis
Physical examinations include a stethoscope listening to your lungs and checking your lymph nodes for swelling.
Tuberculosis is still mostly diagnosed through skin tests, but blood tests are becoming more common. Injection of tuberculin is performed under the skin of the forearm. Only a tiny needle prick should be felt by you.
A medical practitioner will examine your arm to look for swelling at the injection site within 48 to 72 hours. If you have a hard, raised red bump, you most certainly have TB infection. The significance of the test results depends on the size of the bump.

Treatment
If you have latent TB and are at a high risk of developing active TB, your doctor may advise pharmaceutical treatment. Active tuberculosis requires antibiotic treatment for six to nine months.
The type of medication you receive and the length of your treatment will depend on your age, general health, drug resistance potential, and the location of the infection in your body.

Active TB
Active tuberculosis is difficult to detect solely based on signs and symptoms, and it is even more difficult to diagnose the condition in those with weakened immune systems. However, those who display lung illness symptoms or persistent constitutional symptoms that last more than two weeks need to be tested for TB. An X-ray of the chest and numerous sputum cultures for acid-fast bacilli are frequently done as part of the initial examination. In the majority of the developing world, interferon-release assays and tuberculin skin tests are not very useful. In people with HIV, interferon gamma release tests (IGRA) have comparable restrictions.

Latent TB
Latent TB has no symptoms Does not feel sick, Cannot spread TB bacteria to others, Usually has a skin test or blood test result indicating TB infection, Has a normal chest x-ray and a negative sputum smear, Needs treatment for latent TB infection to prevent TB disease.