Nursing: Concepts of epidemiology and nursing research applied to a communicable disease

Epidemiology of Tuberculosis
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Epidemiology of TB
Communicable diseases are illnesses caused by viruses, germs, and bacteria. They can be spread from one person to another through contact with body fluids, contaminated surfaces, blood transfusion, air, and insect bites. Tuberculosis is a highly contagious communicable disease transmitted from an infected individual to an uninfected person through coughs, sneezes, and when an individual speaks. Tuberculosis is caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis. The etiological agent is mycobacterium tuberculosis. The bacterium is transferred from one person to another through the air and is passed to the lungs, affecting the lungs and the surrounding organs (Glaziou, Floyd & Raviglione, 2018). When an individual with active TB disease in their lungs coughs or sneezes, another person will inhale the expelled droplets which contain the mycobacterium tuberculosis and get infected with the bacterium. However, TB is not as contagious as the flu and cold, and individuals may have to spend much time with an infected person to contract the disease.
The symptoms of TB may present differently from one person to another and depends on the affected part. Patients with TB infection usually present with low appetite, loss of body weight, high temperatures, night sweats, and extreme fatigue. Sometimes, TB can affect the lungs and cause persistent coughing for more than three weeks, which is usually bloody and can cause breathlessness that deteriorates progressively. When the bacterium resides outside the lungs, affected persons may have persistently swollen glands and headache, seizures, abdominal pain, and pain in affected bones or joints. Tuberculosis that develops outside the lungs affects the immune system, the digestive system, reproductive system, bladder, brain, bones, and joints (Vluggen et al., 2017). TB presents with fatal complications such as joint damage and heart disorders if not treated at its initial stages. The bacterium generally affects the lungs and can spread to other organs if mycobacterium’s active form is not treated. Other complications include pain in the spinal cord, meningitis, heart disorders, and kidney problems.
The diagnosis of TB involves assessing the lymph nodes for swellings and using a stethoscope to assess the lungs’ sounds while individuals breathe (Vluggen et al., 2017). Other techniques of TB diagnosis include sputum tests, imaging, and blood tests. After diagnosis, the patients will receive proposed medical interventions, including the administration of isoniazid, Rifampin, Ethambutol, and Pyrazinamide drugs. Individuals with drug-resistant TB may be given antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones and injectable drugs such as Capreomycin and amikacin. Some drugs which may be used as an add-on therapy include linezolid and Badaquiline. TB is a reportable disease, and an individual suspecting to have been in contact with infected persons should contact their doctor or immediate healthcare providers (Smyth et al., 2018). On the other hand, medical practitioners should report any patient suspected to have active TB disease to the TB Control Section within one working day (...