Essay Oral Cancer

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Pages: 26

Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is a contagious bacterial infection that involves the lungs, but may spread to other organs.
Causes, incidence, and risk factors
Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis). You can get TB by breathing in air droplets from a cough or sneeze of an infected person. This is called primary TB.
In the United States, most people will recover from primary TB infection without further evidence of the disease. The infection may stay inactive (dormant) for years. However, in some people it can reactivate.
Most people who develop symptoms of a TB infection first became infected in the past. However, in some cases, the disease may become active within weeks after
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Some countries with a high incidence of TB give people a BCG vaccination to prevent TB. However, the effectiveness of this vaccine is limited and it is not routinely used in the United States.
People who have had BCG may still be skin tested for TB. Discuss the test results (if positive) with your doctor.

* Tuberculosis (TB) is an infection, primarily in the lungs (a pneumonia), caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It is spread usually from person to person by breathing infected air during close contact. * TB can remain in an inactive (dormant) state for years without causing symptoms or spreading to other people. * When the immune system of a patient with dormant TB is weakened, the TB can become active (reactivate) and cause infection in the lungs or other parts of the body. * The risk factors for acquiring TB include close-contact situations, alcohol and IV drug abuse, and certain diseases (for example, diabetes, cancer, and HIV) and occupations (for example, health-care workers). * The most common symptoms and signs of TB are fatigue, fever, weight loss, coughing, and night sweats. * The diagnosis of TB involves skin tests, chest X-rays, sputum analysis (smear and culture), and PCR tests to detect the genetic material of the causative bacteria. * Inactive tuberculosis