Tuberculosis bacteria


The tuberculosis bacteria are part of the Mycobacterium family. There are not one, but many types that cause the disease, for example: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium bovis, Mycobacterium avis etc. But not all bacteria from this family produce tuberculosis, Mycobacterium leprae is the main cause for the disease called leprosy.

All these bacteria are aerobe, this is the reason why the infection mainly affects the respiratory system, to be more specific the upper lobes of the lungs. The medium is very nutritive for this kind of bacteria, it allows it to grow and develop properly. The bacterium can migrate to other parts of the body where its growth is “beneficial’’ like the spine, the brain, kidneys etc.

Studies have shown that not all these types of bacteria have to infect the organism and produce the correspondent disease. There are some strains that simple accompany other bacteria in our organisms, they do not manifest any harmful proprieties.

Even so, from time to time, this atypical tuberculosis bacteria can cause an infection that clinically speaking can be diagnosed as typical tuberculosis, but the difference is that this type is more difficult to treat. Therefore, the treatment has to be administered from one and a half to two years, even. Even so, many strains of tuberculosis bacteria can present immunity to the antibiotic treatment.

For diagnosing tuberculosis there are a couple of methods used, such as chest X-rays, blood exams, the assessment of fluids from the body using a microscope and microbiological techniques.

The most important manner is the tuberculosis skin test. Tuberculosis tests determine if a person has developed an immune response to tuberculosis.

This tuberculosis test can be taken by someone with tuberculosis, or someone that has come in contact with this disease in the past or even someone who has been given the tuberculosis vaccine.

The test is accurate for patient with active tuberculosis but also for those that have the latent form of this disease. In the first case, the other methods of diagnosing mentioned earlier can be used to confirm the existence of the disease.

Basically, during this test a small amount of the active substance is injected in the forearm, under the first layer of the skin. Initially, it forms a small bump.

The result of the test will be taken after two to four days by an attested healthcare person. If one is infected with the tuberculosis bacteria then a rash will appear on his forearm.

The interpretation depends upon the tested person and the length of the skin reaction. The outbreak is measured in millimeters. It must not be mistaken with redness or with the bump from the injection site.

A positive outcome of the test is if the rash has spread more than 15 mm at the site. This means that the person is safe from tuberculosis. Lengths that are smaller than the one mentioned might indicate other afflictions.

Unfortunately the tuberculosis skin test is not accurate every time, there might appear a false-positive result to patients that suffer from diseases that compromise their immune system; for example cancer, chemotherapy, AIDS etc. It is also important that the test should be made up to a year after the exposure occurred – this is called an incubation period, this ensures a better chance for a correct diagnosis.