Due to the recent diagnosis of active tuberculosis in a high school student in Montgomery County, a disease that can be traced back to 2400 B.C. is suddenly in the forefront of many Marylanders’ minds.


Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a contagious bacterium that when in an active state produces severe cough with blood-tinged mucus, fever, weight loss, fatigue, night sweats and swollen lymph nodes. TB usually affects the lungs, and is referred to as pulmonary TB, but in severe cases can migrate to other parts of the body and thus be referred to as extrapulmonary TB. Left untreated, TB can be fatal.

Though serious, TB is a curable disease, so it is important to get properly diagnosed and treated should one suspect infection. Once diagnosed, TB is typically treated with a one or a combination of antibiotics, such as isoniazid, rifampin, pyrazinamide and ethambutol, which must be taken over a six month period without fail.  After that the patient is retested, and is treated with an additional two to three months of antibiotics if needed.
Historically, tuberculosis was almost always recognized as a death sentence. It was mentioned in Greek literature by Socrates as inevitably leading to death, and was responsible for the majority of deaths in the 1918 flu pandemic.  But thanks to the streptomycin chemotherapy designed in the 1940s, TB is now highly treatable and no longer fatal to the majority of the population in the United States.

There are some 22,000 new cases of active TB in the United States each year. Those most at risk for an active TB infection include persons with compromised immune systems, nursing home residents or others in institutional living quarters and the homeless. “It’s not that prevalent in our jurisdiction,” says St. Mary’s County Health Department employee John Boyles, RN.  “We have a low incidence of active TB; only an average of two active cases per year.  With a population of around 100,000, that is very low. And once a case is identified, we work with the state to make sure the patient is treated and the TB is cured.”  
 
For more information on tuberculosis, visit the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene at:  http://www.edcp.org/tb/index.cfm