Pulmonary tuberculosis

A notifiable disease.

Specific risk factors include having lived in Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, or Africa for years; exposure to an infectious TB case; residence in an institutional setting and homelessness.

Symptoms may include cough, fever, and weight loss.

If clinical suspicion of pulmonary TB, a patient should be isolated, a CXR should be obtained, 3 sputum samples should be collected for acid-fast bacilli smear and culture, and nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) should be performed on at least one respiratory specimen.

Directly observed therapy is highly recommended and is particularly indicated in groups where adherence can not be assumed.

Early recognition and implementation of effective treatment for infectious TB is crucial in interrupting TB transmission.

Pulmonary tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In many cases, M tuberculosis becomes dormant before it progresses to active TB. It most commonly involves the lungs and is communicable in this form, but may affect almost any organ system including the lymph nodes, CNS, liver, bones, genitourinary tract, and gastrointestinal tract.