Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Mycobacterium is a type of intracellular pathogenic bacteria that can cause extremely infectious and deadly diseases, such as tuberculosis or leprosy. There are many types of bacteria, each different and more complicate than the other. Mycobacterium tuberculosis causes the deadly lung disease called tuberculosis.

This bacterium can affect animals (for example birds or cows) and also humans, though it is mostly encountered in the last category. It is an aerobe bacterium, it can live, grow and multiply itself in the presence of air. Therefore the main way of contacting the bacterium is to come in contact with airborne droplets from either a carrier or an infected person. The main way of forming these droplets is by coughing or sneezing. They are ingested through the mouth or the nasal cavity and driven to the lungs by the pulmonary system, where it can multiply.

Through history, Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been known since the 17th century as the main cause of the “white plague”. In current times, this strain holds first place in the number of infections and deaths caused by a bacteria. It is also well known for its high resistance to various types of antibiotics, which is the main reason why treating tuberculosis is very tricky. There are usually used a mixture of antibiotics, which are to be taken under direct medical supervision and following a strict schedule, otherwise the cure might not have the desired outcome. The treatment is prescribed specific for each patient so that it has the maximum effect on the disease and so on the type of strain of bacteria that the patient is infected with.

People can be classified in two categories: as carries, they have the bacteria put it does not have the ability to reproduce. These are patients that have latent tuberculosis; they can live all their lives without knowing that they have this bacterium and without ever manifesting any symptoms. The second class consists of the infected people, this is when the bacteria multiplies and inflicts the disease and obviously the symptoms associated with it (these people are defined as patient with active tuberculosis).

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is not a specific bacterium, by which I mean that it doesn’t affect just the pulmonary system, it can also spread through blood to other vital organs and tissues (kidneys, brain, spinal cord etc.) weakening their power of function and finally destroying them.

The presence of the bacteria in the human body deteriorates the immune system, making it more susceptible to other diseases as well. It is currently unknown how the human immune system can’t obliterate the bacterium from the organism. A very important fact is that a body is more vulnerable to this disease if the immune system has already been compromised due to HIV, hepatitis, drug use, alcohol abuse or even malnutrition.

The disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis is extremely hard to diagnose due to the fact that the bacterium can’t be cultivated and identified in a laboratory. There are some tests that can discover the existence of the bacteria in the body, for example the scratch test.

This examination consists of injecting the subject with a small amount of an active substance and examining the appearance of a rash, after which measuring its spread and evaluating the existence of the bacterium in the body. Unfortunately there are no sure tests that can determine 100% the existence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the organism.