Tuberculosis – important issues to know

Tuberculosis (TB) is a communicable infectious disease, one of the most frequent infectious causes of morbidity and mortality. Tuberculosis represents an important pu­blic health problem around the world, being present in all countries and in all group ages. Despite being a pre­ven­table and curable disease, 1.5 million people die annually of tuberculosis, being the 13th cause of death and the se­cond infectious killer microorganism after SARS-CoV-2, be­fore HIV/AIDS. TB is most frequently caused by a species of Mycobacterium genus – Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which differentiates from most of the bacteria through its high lipid content of its cellular wall and through an ex­tremely slow multiplication rate, dividing at every 18-24 hours. The diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis is made at the territorial dispensary of pneumophthisiology, ac­cor­ding to clinical manifestations, through laboratory in­ves­ti­ga­tions and imaging techniques. The diagnosis of extrapulmonary tuberculosis is made by the specialist doc­tor corresponding to the affected organ. The treatment must be initiated right after the diagnosis, under a strict sur­veil­lance, with a complex of four or five antituberculous drugs, for a period of approximately six months. A worrying issue is represented by the emergence of multiresistant forms to antituberculous drugs, in this case the treatment being longer and more complex, novel research for the dis­co­very of new antituberculous substances being necessary.