Symptoms of tuberculosis at an early stage

Lung tuberculosis is a disease spread all over the world caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis - a very resistant and aggressive microorganism. Most often a person is infected by an aerogenic route, i.e. Mycobacteria penetrate the body with inhaled air. But there are also known cases of infection through food products and in contact with objects infected with the causative agent of the disease.

In the case of effective functioning of the body's immune system, when the mycobacterium tuberculosis enters the body, they are quickly destroyed by immune cells, which prevents the infection from spreading, and the disease does not develop. In people with reduced immunity, immune cells are not capable of restraining the development of the infectious process, so tuberculosis bacteria begin to multiply actively.

Signs of the initial stage of tuberculosis are very similar to the clinical manifestations of many other diseases. Very often tuberculosis at an early stage is difficult to differentiate from the common cold, pneumonia or bronchitis. Because of the difficulty of setting the right diagnosis, nonspecific manifestations, precious time is lost, so the risk of the pathology transition into a more severe form, the development of complications is high.

Detection of tuberculosis at an early stage

Despite the foregoing, all people need to know the appearance of which symptoms should alert and become a reason to call a doctor. Consider the most common manifestations in the first stage of tuberculosis:

1. Increase in body temperature - with tuberculosis, often body temperature is unstable, while patients rarely feel it rising, detecting it only when measured. Usually the temperature increases in the evening hours and at night.
2. Increased sweating is a fairly common manifestation of tuberculosis at an early stage. As a rule, excessive sweating is noted at night or in the morning in the area of ​​the chest and head.
3. Cough, shortness of breath - although at the initial stages of the disease a pronounced cough is usually absent, many patients notice a recurrent cough that, with the course of time, increases with tuberculosis progression, developing into a dry or wet cough.
4. Increased fatigue, general weakness, headaches, drowsiness, apathy - these nonspecific signs of tuberculosis are more pronounced in the morning.
5. Decreased appetite, attacks of nausea - symptoms of tuberculosis, which are explained by intoxication of the body due to the development of infection.
6. Enlargement of lymph nodes .
7. Rapid heart rate (tachycardia) is a possible symptom of tuberculosis at an early stage, which appears as a result of the impact of tuberculosis toxins on the heart muscle.
8. Pain under the breastbone and behind in the shoulder area, which can occur during coughing or during a deep breath.
9. Enlarged liver.

Diagnosis of tuberculosis

Knowing how tuberculosis is transmitted, and what are its symptoms at the initial stage, you can at least to some extent protect yourself from infection. It is also important to undergo a fluorographic examination on a regular basis, which makes it possible to detect pathology at an early stage. In case of suspected development of the disease, fluorography is carried out regardless of the schedule.

Another method for diagnosing pathology is a microbiological study of sputum for the content of mycobacterium tuberculosis. In this case, it should be borne in mind that when suspicion of tuberculosis and the negative result of this study should be repeated at least three times, because in the early stages of mycobacteria in sputum may not be detected.