Concepts of Epidemiology and Nursing Research on Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Tuberculosis (TB)
Introduction
Tuberculosis is among the infectious diseases threatening individuals’ health across the globe. Despite the small decline in tuberculosis incidences in the last ten years, the infection is still a prime cause of death, with approximately 1.5 million fatalities and over 10 million infections reported in 2020 (WHO, 2020). The disease poses a significant threat to individuals’ health.
Causes
Tuberculosis is a serious contagious disease that affects the lungs mostly. The disease is brought by a bacterium referred to as mycobacterium tuberculosis. The lungs are the main target for the bacterium (CDC, 2019a). TB bacteria can affect any part of the body, including the spine, kidney, and brain. In addition, not every individual with TB bacteria infections gets sick. This results In the existence of two TB-related conditions, namely TB disease and Latent TB infection (LTBI). TB disease can be catastrophic if not properly treated.
TB Symptoms
The symptoms of TB disease depend on the part of the body the bacteria are growing. Generally, TB bacteria grow in the lungs. Signs and symptoms associated with TB disease in the lungs are chest pain, coughing up blood, and a continuous three or more weeks bad cough. Other symptoms associated with TB disease include sweating at night, loss of appetite, fatigue, fever, weight loss, and chills (CDC, 2019c). TB disease symptoms in other body organs depend on the region that has been affected. Folks with latent TB infection hardly feel ill, have no symptoms, and cannot spread the infection to others.
Mode of Transmission
The main transmission mode for TB disease is through inhaling infected air produced by individuals with the disease. The bacteria are introduced in the air when an infected person coughs, laughs, sneezes, or speaks. People close to an infected person breathe in infected air that contains the bacteria resulting in infection (CDC, 2019b). However, TB cannot be spread by shaking hands, sharing food, toothbrush, kissing, and making contact with bed linens. When an individual breathes in the TB bacteria, they usually settle in the lungs and start growing, then later move to other body organs such as the kidney and brain through the blood. TB in the lungs and throat can be spread to people who are not infected, while TB in the kidney and other body organs cannot be spread. Individuals with TB are likely to spread the disease to those they spend most of their time with, such as family members, workmates, and friends.
TB Complications
The heterogeneity of TB presentation makes the diagnosis and treatment of the disease challenging and complex. The disease can result in both short-term and long-term effects on health. The acute and subacute complexities brought by TB disease result from structural injury caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis and the metabolic deviations and responses from the host inflammatory (Shah & Reed, 2014). Sepsis-related to TB is a serious acute problem with inadequate diagnosis and management approaches. Anatomic alterations might results in chronic difficulties at the disease site even after successful treatment of TB. Examples of thes...