TUBERCULOSIS
DR SHAHNAWAZ F SHAH
MD, FPM, FIAPM,FCPM (MUHS)
Interventional Spine & Pain Physician
Surat
TUBERCULOSIS
Is the most prevalent communicable infectious
disease on earth and remains out of control in many
developing nations
It is a chronic specific inflammatory infectious disease
caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis in humans
Usually attacks the lungs but it can also affect any
parts of the body
Also Known as “ KOCH’s Disease”, “wasting disease”
and the “white plague.”
Tuberculosis can produce atypical signs and
symptoms in
Infants,
Elderly, and
Immunocompromised hosts
It can progress rapidly in these patients
EPIDEMIOLOGY
EPIDEMIOLOGY
Roughly one of every three people on earth is
infected by M. tuberculosis (WHO, 2008)
The distribution is very uneven, with the highest
incidences found in southern Asia and sub-Saharan
Africa
In the United States, about 13 million people have
LTBI, evidenced by a positive skin test [purified
protein derivative (PPD)] but no signs or symptoms of
disease
EPIDEMIOLOGY
Every year approximately 1.7 million people
develop TB
Tuberculosis (TB) kills about 2 million people
each year
The emergence of drug resistant organism
threatens to make this disease once again
incurable
India has the highest number of TB cases in the
world, accounting for around one in four cases
globally, according to the WHO.
ETIOLOGY
MYCOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS
It presents either
as latent TB infection (LTBI) or
as progressive active disease.
The latter typically causes progressive destruction
of the lungs, leading to death in most patients who
do not receive treatment
CHARACTERISTICS OF
M. TUBERCULOSIS
Rod shaped,
0.2-0.5 µ in D, 2-4 µ in L
Mycolic acid present in its cell wall,
makes it acid fast
It resists decolourization with acid &
alcohol
Aerobic and non motile
It multiplies slowly, can remain
dormant for decades
Main species of mycobacterium
causing tuberculosis:
TYPICAL MYCOBACTERIA
1.Mycobacterium tuberculosis
2.Mycobacterium hominis
3.Mycobacterium bovine
RISK FACTORS OF TUBERCULOSIS
Low socioeconomic status
Crowded living conditions
Diseases that weakens immune
system like HIV
Person on immunosuppressant
like steroid
Health care workers
Migration from a country with a
high number of cases
Alcoholism
Recent Tubercular infection
(within last 2 years)
CO-INFECTION WITH
HUMAN IMMUNODEFICIENCY VIRUS (HIV)
HIV is the most important risk factor for active TB,
because the immune deficit prevents patients from
containing the initial infection
Coinfection with HIV
Accelerates the progression of both diseases
Requiring rapid diagnosis and treatment of both
diseases
Classification of TB
TB
Pulmonary (85-90%) Extra-pulmonary (10-15%)
Sputum
Positive TB
(Those who
have
bacteria in
sputum)
Sputum
Negative TB
(Those who
do not have
bacteria in
sputum)
Lymph Nodes
Bones & Joints
Genitourinary tract
Meninges
Intestines
Skin
How is TB Transmitted?
Person-to-person through the
air by a person with active TB
disease of the lungs
Less frequently transmitted
by: Ingestion of M. bovis
found in unpasteurized milk
Inoculation (in skin
tuberculosis)
Transplacental route (rare
route)
Type of tuberculosis infection
Pulmonary TB :
1. PRIMARY TUBERCULOSIS :
The infection of an individual who has not been previously infected or
sensitized is called Primary tuberculosis or Ghon’s complex or childhood
tuberculosis.
2. SECONDARY TUBERCULOSIS :
The infection that individual who has been previously infected or
sensitized is called secondary or post primary or reinfection or
chronic tuberculosis.
PRIMARY TUBERCULOSIS
PRIMARY INFECTION
The progression to clinical disease in a previously
unexposed, immunocompetent person depends on
three factors:
1.The number of M. tuberculosis organisms inhaled
2.Infecting dose and the virulence of these organisms
3.The development of anti-mycobacterial cell-mediated
immunity
Immunity to M. tuberculosis is primarily mediated by
TH1 cells, which stimulate macrophages to kill the
bacteria
PRIMARY TUBERCULOSIS
Disease that develops in a previously unexposed
person.
Almost always begins in lungs
Inhaled bacilli implant in the distal airspaces of lower
part of upper lobe or upper part of lower lobe
1-1.5 cm area of grey white inflammation with
consoldation develops, called as Ghon focus which
often caseates
FATE OF PRIMARY TUBERCULOSIS
No progression
Healing by fibrosis and calcification
Ghons complex after undergoing progressive fibrosis
produces radiologically detectable calcification called
as RANKE COMPLEX
Progressive primary tuberculosis
Primary miliary tuberculosis
Dissemination to organs like liver, spleen, kidney,
..etc.
FATE OF SEC. PULMONARY TB
The lesion may heal with fibrous scarring and
calcification
The lesions may coalesce together to form large area
of tuberculous pneumonia and produce progressive
secondary pulmonary tuberculosis producing
pulmonary & extra pulmonary lesions:
Tuberculous caseous pneumonia
Fibrocaseous tuberculosis
Miliary tuberculosis
MILIARY TUBERCULOSIS
Extensive infection via hematogenous spread
In lung: lesions are either microscopic or small, visible
foci (2mm) of yellow white consolidation scattered
through out lung parenchyma
Miliary pulmonary disease can cause pleural
effusion, tuberculous empyema or obliterative
fibrous pleuritis.
Extra pulmonary miliary tuberculosis is most
prominent in the liver, spleen, bone marrow,
adrenals, meninges, kidneys, fallopian tubes and
epididymis but can involve any organ
MILIARY TUBERCULOSIS
Miliary tuberculosis of the spleen
The cut surface shows numerous gray-white granulomas
EXTRA PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS
In tissues or organs seeded hematogenously
SYMPTOMS OF TB
Most common symptom of TB
•Cough for 2 weeks or more
Other symptoms of TB are:
•Fever, especially evening rise
•Pain in the chest
•Loss of weight
•Loss of appetite
•Coughing up blood-stained
sputum
•Shortness of breath,
•Tiredness
DIAGNOSTIC STEPS
HISTORY AND CLINICAL
EXAMINATION
RADIOGRAPHIC
FEATURES
BACTERIOLOGIC
EVALUATION
Tests may include:
Chest CT scan
Chest X-ray
Tuberculin skin test (also called a PPD test)
Sputum examination and cultures
Interferon-gamma release blood test such as
the QFT-Gold test
Bronchoscopy
Thoracentesis
Biopsy of the affected tissue (rare)
Chest X-ray
Tuberculosis creates cavities
visible in x-rays like this one in the
patient's right upper lobe.
Abnormalities on chest
radiographs may be suggestive, but
are never diagnostic of TB.
However, chest radiographs
may be used to rule out.
BACTERIOLOGIC
EVALUATION
SPUTUM EXAMINATION
Are essential to confirm TB
Best collected in morning before any meal
Sputum examination on 3 days, increase chances of detection
Sputum can be collected from laryngeal swab or bronchial
washing In small children, gastric lavage can be examined.
Smear should be prepared from thick dirty part of sputum &
stained with Ziehl-Neelson technique
Acid Fast Bacilli “AFB”
Smear Test
Specimen examined for acid fast bacilli by staining:
Ziehl-neelson Acid Fast
Staining
Auramine-rhodamine
Staining
Tuberculin skin Test / Mantoux test / PPD test
Purified Protein Derivative (PPD) :
Is a concentrated filter of broth in which tubercle bacilli have
grown for 6 weeks(old).
Standard method for screening & measuring of a person’s
cellular response.
Measuring the size of induration 48-72 hours.
Tuberculin skin Test
1 2
Positive If ≥ 10 mm Induration Size.
Positive Reaction
Person infected in the past or latent TB infection.
After BCG vaccination, but this may last for only 3-7 years .
Persons are retested 2 weeks later; their ppd skin test “boosted” by
the recent antigen injection. High risk of (endogenous infection)
Negative Reaction
Persons who have NEVER been infected, they are not
subject to that risk, though they may become infected
from an external source (exogenous infection)
A positive tuberculin test result signifies cell-
mediated hypersensitivity to tubercular antigens.
It does not differentiate between infection and
disease
False-negative reactions may be produced by certain
viral infections, sarcoidosis, malnutrition,
immunosuppression
False-positive reactions may also result from
infection by atypical mycobacteria
γ-Interferon release assays (GIRA)
Test rely on the fact that T-lymphocytes will release γ-
interferon when exposed to specific antigens.
QFT-gold test measures interferon-gamma in the testee's
blood after incubating the blood with specific antigens
from m. Tuberculosis proteins
FIRST LINE DRUG
1.Isoniazid (H)
2.Rifampin (R)
3.Pyrazinamide (Z)
4.Ethambutol (E)
5.Streptomycin (S)
SECOND LINE DRUG
1.Thiacetazone (Tzn)
2.Paraaminosalicylic acid (PAS)
3.Ethionamide (Etm)
4.Cycloserine (Cys)
5.Kanamycine (Am)
6.Capriomycine (Cpr)
NEWER DRUG
1.Ciprofloxacin
2.Ofloxacine
3.Clarithromycine
4.Azithromycine
5.Rifabutine
6.Bedaquiline(Recently)
ANTI-TUBERCULAR DRUG
ANTI-TUBERCULAR DRUGS
Medication Drug action Dose(Thrice a
week)***
Dose in
children(mg/kg)
Isoniazid Bactericidal 600 mg 10-15
Rifampicin Bactericidal 450 mg* 10
Pyrazinamide Bactericidal 1500 mg 30-35
Ethambutol Bacteriostatic 1200 mg 20-25
Streptomycin Bactericidal 0.75 g** 15
* Patients who weigh 60 kg or more at the start of treatment
are given an extra 150mg dose of Rifampicin
** Patients over 50 years of age are given 0.5g of streptomycin
*** Adult patients weighing <30kg receive drugs in patients-
wise from the weight band suggested for pediatric patients
ISONIAZIDE(H)-Pyridine hydrazide.
Action
Bacteriostatic for resting mycobacteria, bactericidal for proliferating
mycobacteria.
Mechanism of Action
Inhibit cell wall synthesis
RIFAMPICIN (R)-Rifamycine
Action
Bactericidal for mycobacteria; also effective against most Gram-positive
and many Gram-negative bacteria.
Mechanism of Action
Binds to the β subunit of DNA-dependent RNA polymerase (rpoB) .
Inhibit RNA synthesis
Dose
10 mg/kg (600 mg),OD
Oral
Adverse reaction
Flu like symptoms.
Thrombocytopenic purpura.
GIT disturbances &
Harmless orange tint to saliva, sweat &
tears
PYRAZINAMIDE (Z)-Nicotinamide analogue
Action
Bactericidal for actively dividing intracellular mycobacteria.
Main effect occur in first few months.
Mechanism of Action
PYRAZINAMIDE
Enter M.tuberculosis
Pyrazinoic acid (POA
+)
Kill the mycobacteria
Pyrazinamidase/Nicotinamidase
Inhibit FAS
Inhibit growth mycobacteria
Go extra-
cellular
Goal
1.To decrease the mortality and morbidity
2.To cut down the chain of transmission of infection
until TB ceases to be a public health problem
Objectives
To achieve and maintain:
1.Cure rate of at least 90% among newly detected
smear positive (infectious) pulmonary TB cases
2.Case detection of at least 85% of the expected new smear
positive PTB cases in the community
Implementation
•Case finding- by passive surveillance on patient with
symptoms of
i)Persistent cough for 2weeks or more.
ii)Haemoptysis
iii)Night sweats
iv)Evening rise of temperature
v)Chest pain
In lab.-
i)Sputum collection for diagnosis
ii)Radiography
iii)Tuberculin test
Sputum examination is the best method to diagnose TB
Pulmonary TB diagnosis can be confirmed by sputum
examination.
Two sputum samples are collected over one/two consecutive
days
If the health facility is a DMC, spot sample is collected
immediately and the patient is given a sputum container to
collect early morning sample & brought to the lab
Diagnosis of TB
Alternatively the patient can be asked to collect a
morning sample and go to a DMC where a spot
sample can be taken
In case the patient is not able to reach a DMC, both
samples - morning and spot, can be collected and
transported
The sputum samples are subjected to microscopy
examination as early as possible
A patient is diagnosed positive if one or both the
samples is positive for bacteria
If the bacteria are not visible in any sputum sample,
the patient is negative and should be referred to a
medical officer for further evaluation
TB of other organs is diagnosed by a medical officer
RNTCP revised diagnostic algorithm (2009)
Note: RNTCP has
separate diagnostic
algorithm for
pediatric pulmonary
TB and common
forms of extra-
pulmonary TB
DOTS
Directly Observed Treatment
Short Course
Tuberculosis control strategy recommended by the World Health Organization
as the strategy that ensures cure of TB
Directly
observed
treatment
(DOT) is one
element of
the DOTS
strategy
An observer
watches and
helps the
patient
swallow the
tablets
Direct observation
ensures treatment for the
entire course
•with the right
drugs
•in the right doses
•at the right
intervals
Directly Observed Treatment Short Course
Directly Observed Treatment Short Course
There are two phases in DOTS treatment
1Intensive Phase(IP):-
Intensive phase is of 2 to 3 months duration
Patient swallow medicine under the observation of a
health worker during IP
Medicines are taken 3 times a week on alternate
days
If the sputum is negative for bacteria after IP,
continuation phase is started
Directly Observed Treatment Short Course
2. Continuation Phase
•This phase is of 4 or 5 months duration
•The patient is provided with a weekly blister pack to
take home
•The medicines from the blister pack are taken on
alternate days, three times a week and in the
remaining days, Vitamin tablets are taken
•The first dose of the weekly blister pack is taken under
direct observation of the health worker
•Empty blister packs are collected to ensure that the
medicines are taken at home by the patient
H: Isoniazid (300 mg), R: Rifampicin (600 mg), Z: Pyrazinamide (1500 mg), E:
Ethambutol (1000 mg), S: Streptomycin (1000 mg)
1.Patients who weigh 60kg or more receive additional Rifampicin
150mg.
2.Patients who are more than 50 years old receive Streptomycin
500mg.
3.Patients who weigh less than 30kg receive drugs as per Paediatric
weight band boxes according to body weight.
Category Type of Patient Regimen Duration in months
Category I
Color of box:
RED
New Sputum Positive ,
Seriously ill sputum negative,
Seriously ill extra pulmonary,
2 (HRZE)
3, 6
4 (HR)
3
Category II
Color of box:
BLUE
Sputum Positive relapse,
Sputum Positive failure
Sputum Positive treatment after
default
2 (HRZES)
3, 8
1 (HRZE)
3
5 (HRE)
3
ADVANTAGES
The patient is supported to successfully complete the full
course of medication
The patient is monitored closely for side effects of
medications and supported to work through the side
effects appropriately
The patient is encouraged and support.
Reduces the possibility of tuberculosis germs becoming
resistant to the medication.
DRUG RESISTANT TB
1.MULTIPLE DRUG RESISTANCE TB (MDR-TB)
An MDR-TB suspect who is sputum culture positive and whose
TB is due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis that are resistant in-
vitro to at least ISONIAZID AND RIFAMPICIN.
2.EXTENSIVELY DRUG RESISTANT TB (XDR–TB)
subset of MDR-TB where the bacilli, in addition to being
resistant to R and H, are also resistant to any
fluoroquinolones and any one of the second-line injectable
drugs (namely Kanamycin, Capreomycin, or Amikacin).
For the treatment of MDR-TB cases
STANDARDISED TREATMENT REGIMEN
6 drugs
- kanamycin
- ethionamide
- ethambutol
- ofloxacin
- pyrazinamide
- cycloserine
for 6-9 months of the INTENSIVE PHASE
BCG VACCINE
Protective effect against
meningitis and
disseminated TB in
children.
It does not prevent
primary infection and
does not prevent
reactivation of latent
pulmonary infection
ROLE OF PHYSIOTHERAPISTS
PT's should be prepared to take a thorough history and a
proper examination in order to better identify TB.
Recognize your patient's signs and symptoms
Patients may present in clinic with musculoskeletal problems
with unknown causes or arthritic pain.
A patient could also be seen in physical therapy if they have
had surgery on their back, in which case the normal
rehabilitation protocols would be followed
ROLE OF PHYSIOTHERAPISTS
All physical therapists should be aware of the proper
personal protective equipment (PPE) that should be
worn.
Therapists are able to provide percussion and postural
drainage to clear secretions out of the lung