Beware of the five deadly misunderstandings about tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a chronic lung infection and has become one of the most common diseases threatening humans. Tuberculosis is transmitted through the respiratory tract, and its cause is nothing more than people's abnormal living and eating habits. Many people now have misunderstandings about tuberculosis. We need to have a correct understanding of it in order to achieve faster and better cure.

Myth 1: Diseases of the “poor”

Many people mistakenly believe that tuberculosis is a disease of the poor before liberation and is almost gone. In fact, the incidence and mortality of tuberculosis are very high now. Every day, 5,000 people die from tuberculosis in the world, and in 2006 alone, 2 million people died from the disease. Tuberculosis is the main infectious killer of adults. About 130,000 people die from tuberculosis every year, and the average age of death is 55.2 years old.

Case statistics show that in recent years, students and white-collar workers are more likely to develop tuberculosis, especially those who are tired (including physical labor, mental fatigue, and staying up late), diet, have poor physical fitness, are surrounded by people with tuberculosis, have other diseases that lead to poor immunity, and use immunosuppressive drugs.

Tuberculosis mostly occurs in the lungs, and the most common symptom of pulmonary tuberculosis is cough, which happens to be a symptom of the common cold. This is why ordinary people are most likely to delay seeking medical treatment, or even delay going to the hospital for a long time.

In fact, the symptoms of colds and tuberculosis are different. Colds are acute upper respiratory tract infections with a high incidence rate, and almost everyone can get sick all year round. The onset is acute and the course of the disease is short, generally about 1 week. There are upper respiratory tract symptoms (including dry, itchy, sore throat, sneezing, nasal congestion, runny nose, and cough); systemic symptoms: fever, mild chills, and headache. If there are no such symptoms, but only a cough, you should go to the hospital for a chest X-ray as soon as possible. Acute bronchitis has an acute onset, and the main symptoms are cough and sputum; fever for 3-5 days, and cough and sputum for 2-3 weeks. For those with respiratory symptoms, especially those with a course of more than 2-3 weeks, it is emphasized that a chest X-ray must be taken. Because common colds and acute bronchitis usually get better in 2-3 weeks, if not, you need to consider other diseases.

Myth 3: You can stop taking the medicine once your symptoms are gone

Some patients feel that their symptoms have completely disappeared after taking anti-tuberculosis drugs for 1-2 months, and they stop taking the drugs thinking that they are cured. In fact, tuberculosis bacteria are very stubborn and difficult to kill. Taking drugs for 1-2 months only kills most of them, and it is entirely possible that they will relapse. Therefore, it is necessary to take the drugs for at least 6 months, and then a specialist will assess whether to stop taking the drugs or extend the course of treatment (extended in severe cases).

Misconception 4: Mistaking the symptom for chronic bronchitis

Some patients have chronic bronchitis or smoke and cough frequently, so they are used to coughing and think coughing is "normal", and they don't know that tuberculosis or even lung cancer has quietly attacked. Therefore, patients with these symptoms should first take a chest X-ray once a year, and secondly, if the cough worsens or other accompanying symptoms appear, they should take a chest X-ray in time for further examination.

Myth 5: Mistaking it for chronic tuberculosis

If the chest X-ray shows abnormalities, you should go to a pulmonary specialist hospital for further detailed examination, and avoid hastily concluding that it is "chronic pulmonary tuberculosis". Whether it is "chronic" requires a series of examinations to determine, such as PPD skin test, sputum tuberculosis bacteria, chest CT, etc. Some of the so-called "chronic pulmonary tuberculosis" are active, which means early stage of pulmonary tuberculosis or recurrence of chronic pulmonary tuberculosis.