Pulmonary tuberculosis

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that can affect any organ of the human body. However, in 80–90 % of cases it affects the respiratory system. Pulmonary TB is highly contagious due to its way of spreading by aerosol and therefore still represents a global public health problem. In the 20th century pulmonary TB has changed its clinical presentation and also target groups of patients. The emergence of HIV-infection, prolonged life expectancy of patients with chronic diseases, and more aggressive medical procedures have favoured the emergence of new groups of patients at increased risk of contracting TB. The current control strategy of Directly Observed Therapy, Short Course (DOTS) is based on the combination of more drugs (to avoid the development of resistant strains) and long enough treatment (to ensure that bacteria in different phases of metabolism will be eradicated). Inadequate use of antituberculotic drugs and failure to follow the DOTS strategy leads to the development of resistant strains and multidrug- resistant pulmonary tuberculosis (MDR-TB), which represents a global public health problem.