Part 1: How to avoid contracting tuberculosis?
1. Avoid contact with active pulmonary tuberculosis patients. Obviously, the most important preventive measure is to avoid contact with active tuberculosis patients, because active tuberculosis is extremely contagious (especially if you have been detected to have latent tuberculosis). More specifically: don't stay with active tuberculosis patients for a long time (especially if they receive treatment for less than two weeks). It is especially important to avoid staying in a stuffy room with tuberculosis patients.
If you have to get along with tuberculosis patients (for example, working in a nursing institution that treats tuberculosis), you must take protective measures such as wearing a mask to avoid inhaling mycobacterium tuberculosis.
If a friend or family member has active tuberculosis, please ensure that they strictly follow the treatment instructions to help them cure tuberculosis and reduce your risk of contracting the disease.
2. Know if you are "at risk of infection". Some groups are at higher risk of contracting tuberculosis than others. If you belong to one of the following high-risk groups, you must be more careful to protect yourself from tuberculosis. The following are some high-risk groups of tuberculosis: people with weak immune systems, such as people infected with human immunodeficiency virus or AIDS.
Nursing care of patients with active tuberculosis or people living with them (such as close relatives or doctors and nurses).
People who live in crowded and closed environments, such as prisons, nursing homes or homeless shelters.
People who abuse drugs and alcohol have little or no access to proper medical care.
Live or go to countries with high incidence of tuberculosis, such as Latin America, Africa and some Asian countries.
3. Follow a healthy lifestyle. People in poor health are more likely to be infected with mycobacterium tuberculosis because their disease resistance is lower than that of healthy people. Therefore, it is important to live a healthy lifestyle as much as possible. Eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean meat and maintain a healthy and balanced diet. Avoid fat, sugar and processed foods.
Exercise regularly at least three or four times a week. Try to add some aerobic exercise to your exercise plan, such as running, swimming or boating.
Reduce alcohol intake and avoid smoking or taking drugs.
To get enough high-quality sleep, it is best to sleep for 7 to 8 hours every night.
Maintain good personal hygiene habits and try to breathe fresh air outside as much as possible.
4. Inoculate BCG to prevent tuberculosis. BCG is a vaccine used in many countries to prevent the spread of tuberculosis, especially among children. In China, every healthy newborn must be vaccinated with BCG. If the child is born in an overseas country that is not affected by tuberculosis, the CDC still recommends BCG vaccination in the following cases: if the child's tuberculosis test results are negative, he will continue to be exposed to the disease (especially drug-resistant strains).
If medical staff keep in contact with tuberculosis patients (especially drug-resistant strains).
Before going to countries where tuberculosis is very common.
It should be noted that BCG can only prevent tuberculosis in children, but not in adults.
Part II: How to diagnose and treat tuberculosis.
1. If you have ever been in contact with tuberculosis patients, you can arrange tuberculosis testing. If you have been in contact with active tuberculosis patients recently and think that you may be infected with this disease, you must consult the medical service personnel immediately. There are two methods to detect tuberculosis: skin test: tuberculin skin test (TST) is to inject tuberculin (protein) within 2 ~ 8 weeks after contact with tuberculosis patients. The patient must come back two or three days later, and the skin reaction will be observed and interpreted by the medical staff.
Blood test: although this method is not as common as skin test, it only needs to see a doctor once to know the result, and there are few misunderstandings. People who have been vaccinated with BCG should arrange blood tests, because the vaccine will affect the accuracy of tuberculin skin test.
If the tuberculosis test is positive, you need to do additional tests. Medical staff need to make sure that you have latent tuberculosis (not contagious) or active tuberculosis before they can treat you. The required examinations may include chest X-ray examination and sputum examination.
2. Treat latent tuberculosis immediately. If you find latent tuberculosis, you should consult your doctor for best practices. Although you won't get sick from latent tuberculosis and it's not contagious, the doctor may prescribe a course of antibiotics to kill inactive tuberculosis and prevent it from developing into active tuberculosis.
The two most common treatments are taking isoniazid twice a day or weekly. This course of treatment lasts for 6 or 9 months. Or take rifampicin every day for 4 months.
3. Immediately treat active pulmonary tuberculosis. If active tuberculosis is found, treatment must be started as soon as possible. Symptoms of active tuberculosis include cough, fever, emaciation, burnout, night sweats, chills and loss of appetite.
Nowadays, active pulmonary tuberculosis can be cured with antibiotics, but the course of treatment is quite long, which usually takes 6 to 12 months.
The most commonly used drugs to treat tuberculosis include isoniazid, rifampicin, rimidine, Myambutol and pyrazinamide. If you have active tuberculosis, you usually need to take several drugs in combination (especially if you are infected with a particularly drug-resistant strain).
If you follow the treatment plan strictly, you should be able to start to feel better in a few weeks and no longer be contagious. However, you must complete the course of treatment, or tuberculosis will remain in the body and may become more drug-resistant.
Part III: How to avoid the spread of tuberculosis.
1, if you have active tuberculosis at home, you need to take preventive measures to avoid spreading the disease to others. After diagnosis, you need to stay at home, stay away from work and school for several weeks, and avoid sharing a room or staying with others for a long time.
Let the air in the room circulate. Mycobacterium tuberculosis is easy to spread in a closed space without air circulation. Therefore, you should open doors and windows to let in fresh air and let out polluted air.
3. Cover your mouth. Just like a cold, you must cover your mouth whenever you cough, sneeze or laugh. You can cover your mouth with your hand if necessary, but it is best to use a paper towel.
4. Wear a mask. If contact with people is necessary, it is best to cover your mouth and nose with a mask (at least for the first three weeks after infection). This will help reduce your risk of transmitting tuberculosis to others.
5. After taking the medicine. No matter what course of treatment the doctor prescribes, it is important that you finish the medicine. If the treatment process is not completed, Mycobacterium tuberculosis may mutate and become more drug-resistant and therefore more deadly. Taking medicine during treatment is the safest choice for you and the people around you.
Warning that people who receive organ transplants, people infected with human immunodeficiency virus or people who are considered to be at risk of complications for any reason should not receive treatment for latent tuberculosis.
Pregnant women, people whose immune function is suppressed or may be suppressed in the future should not be vaccinated with BCG. At present, there is not enough research to determine whether BCG is safe for developing fetus.