Tina the nurse attendant at an E.R was called upon in such an urgent manner.
A patient had just been rushed in, a 38 year old man looking wasted and malnourished. His clothes were saggy and you could tell he had lost so much weight over a short period of time.
Good afternoon Sir, I’m nurse Tina. What is the problem Sir?
I’m not well the man replied gruntled. I have had this persistent cough for a month now. I don’t sleep well at night and always drenched in my own sweat as if I bath in my dreams. I have on two occasions coughed out blood during this period.
On hearing this, Tina immediately grabbed a face mask and got the patient to an isolation room.
An initial suspicion of an ongoing active tuberculosis infection has been made..
WHAT IS TUBERCULOSIS?
Tuberculosis is an active infectious disease usually caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium Tuberculosis (MTB). Tuberculosis is spread through the air when people who have active bacteria cough,spit,speak or sneeze.People with latent tuberculosis do not spread the disease. Active infection most often occur in people with HIV/AIDS and in those who smoke.
Now back to Nurse Tina, she immediately isolated the patient(who has said his name is Mr John) based on the suspicion she had and then ran to get the doctor who came and immediately began running series of tests and took an x-ray of his chest. The doctor was able to officially diagnose(after the test results came back positive) that Mr John had contracted and was suffering from active tuberculosis just as Nurse Tina had suspected.
Mr John still in the isolation unit, was about to begin the usual long tuberculosis treatment.Doctor, Am I going to die? He asked.
No.... you certainly won't, replied the doctor.
What's going to happen now?.. Mr John asked again, getting really nervous.
Tuberculosis is generally treated with a combination of different antibiotics. There are a lot of drug resistant tuberculosis which are difficult to treat. As a patient with active tuberculosis, I'll have to administer several types of medications for several months to eradicate the infection and prevent development of antibiotic resistance, Said the Doctor.
Nurse Tina... I'll be placing this patient on DOT... we really don't want any mistakes.
Mr John became frightened, and he asked.. what's DOT?.
DOT simply means Directly Observed Therapy. This is when a health care provider personally administers a patient's drugs to the patient. This is done to avoid over or under dosage and effective utilization of the drugs. If the drugs are not administered properly, this will lead to a drug resistant tuberculosis and that will complicate issues.... explained the doctor.
Mr John remained in isolation and began his treatment, he was so surprised at how he began to get better in not so much time. He had lost hope previously and he thought he was going to die.During the routine rounds the doctor does, Mr John stopped the doctor as he was about to leave because he wanted to ask him some questions about his health.
Doctor! he said, I truly did not know I'll live to see this day. I am truly thankful. How do you think I contracted this deadly infection?
You do not have HIV or other factors that generally increases your risk like cancer and other kidney and heart related diseases. You definitely contracted it by being in a close environment with another active tuberculosis carrier, Said the Doctor. Then the doctor asks, do you smoke?
Mr John says Yes , in a low tone.
Aha! Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs and you increase your risk factor and also aggreviate the infection when you smoke; Said the doctor.
Oh doctor, I'll never light a cigar again if am able to eventually survive this, Said Mr John almost in tears.
You are surviving already... the doctor said.
Six weeks later, It was finally the time for Mr John to go home. He was truly happy. Then he asks, are there any chances of the tuberculosis infection reoccurring?
Not really, as long as the treatment protocols are completed and you dont come in contact or stay around a carrier of active tuberculosis which could reinfect you, you'll be fine as the chances of a properly treated tuberculosis to reoccur is really slim. I trust you'll keep to your promise of not smoking... Said the doctor.
Definitely Doc, Mr John replied.
Am so thankful the infection didn't lead to other complications. He said.
Yes, you should indeed be thankful because when tuberculosis is resistant or gets complicated, there are a lot of serious consequences. Meningitis, bone pain and spinal issues, lung function damage and cardiac tanponade are some of the deadly consequences that could have been the result of complicated tuberculosis. So you see.. said the doctor.
Is there any way i could have prevented contracting the infection in the firstplace... asked Mr John, who is still scared of the fact that a reinfection might be possible.
Yes, Scientists work hard daily to create a very efficient vaccine that can prevent the disease, the vaccines available now cannot totally prevent tuberculosis, it only prevents it partially. I'll prescribe some shots that you'll be taking after the next set of antibiotics you'll be taking, Said the doctor.
If only i knew all this previously, I'll have made sure i had gotten a tuberculosis vaccine. It probably would have saved me from the great ordeal i had to go through, Said Mr John.
The doctor smiled and said, you did a fantastic job by coming in to the hospital early.Most people usually wait until its too late. We were able to properly contain the infection because it was diagnosed and treated early.
Tuberculosis is one of the world's deadliest diseases. One third of the world's population is or have been infected with tuberculosis. However, I firmly believe that if most people go for frequent routine tuberculosis test(as this can help discover latent tuberculosis before it becomes active),see a doctor immediately they notice anything unusual, and also take booster shots if they have the opportunity to do so, we might be able to overcome tuberculosis one day.
Hopefully we'll overcome, said Mr John as he got up to take his leave. we'll be seeing on my next appointment then, Goodbye.
Thank you as always for reading
please let me know your thoughts and comments or any personal experience with tuberculosis.
Also comment if there's a particular topic you'll like me to research and blog.
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