Fighting Tuberculosis
Chest X-ray of a person with advanced tuberculosis. Infection in both lungs is marked by white arrow-heads, and the formation of a cavity is marked by black arrows.
Tuberculosis, MTB or TB, is an infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria. Because of living in a polluted environment and smoking relentlessly for a while, my father was a victim of TB, and it took him 9 months of taking antibiotic medications in order to kill the infection. Being consistent and patient with the treatment was one of the hardest requirements that he had to follow.
Tuberculosis may show different symptoms such as blood-tinged sputum coughing, fever, night sweat and weight loss. However, it may also occur as individual symptoms you would attribute to something else, such as the fever or weight loss. My father showed no few symptoms except that he kept losing weight, even thought he tried to eat as much as he could. Then it was hard for him to get to sleep at night, as he usually had headaches and nausea. Several times he was given an IV in the hopes that he would feel better, but it did not help at all. These symptoms stirred doubts about his health, but he still did not think that he had gotten tuberculosis.
After a few weeks of staying up all night, losing weight and getting so skinny, he finally went to the doctor to take an X-ray of his lung, and there was a small mark on the picture. Then he did a sputum test to get more accurate result. The test was negative. He was so happy that he did not have TB. The doctor just advised him to take more care to his health and should not work too hard. However, that was the story of five years ago.
A couple of years later, my family got a letter from the U.S Embassy saying that we had been approved to get visas to come to the United States, so we had to get a general health check such as taking immunization and taking X-ray of our lungs. If the result was negative, the U.S Embassy would be able to provide the visas and allow us to come to America. While my mom was very worried that my father might get TB, he was still insisting that he was fine because the previous result showed nothing. After taking new X-rays, we all were fine except my father. The doctor said that they had to do the sputum test in order to make sure there was no bacteria because they saw the small mark on his lung’s picture.
This time they did the test a little different. Instead of taking only 1 breaker of the sputum, my Dad had to do 2 more, especially in the early morning without eating anything. By doing so, it would be clearer for them to find the tuberculosis bacteria. It took him 3 days total to get the test done. We went home feeling very wary. We wondered if the result might be positive. We kept reassured ourselves that everything should be fine. The first month passed. The 2nd month came, and I swore myself that it was the longest two months ever in my life.
One day afternoon while my Dad was reading newspaper, my mom was cooking and I was listening my favorite song “life is beautiful” of Vega4, the phone suddenly rang. Dad picked it up, listening in silent and hung up in 10 minutes. I still remember his empty eyes when he looked at my Mom and me. His voice was faltering, and he quietly said that the test was positive. The 1st and 2nd breakers showed no bacteria, but the 3rd one had it. The doctor explained that there were 25% of people may not have any symptoms called asymptomatic or dormant (sleeping) TB germ. In this case, TB germs cannot make you sick and pass it to others and my Dad was one of that 25%.
different ways to test the TB virus
“From 6 to 9 months taking medication consistently every day in the morning without food is what you all must to do in order to kill the bacteria completely” said by the doctor. She assured my Dad that he was lucky because he had not used the medication before, so it would be less time for him to finish the dosages. Why is it so important? Many people getting the medication have antibiotic resistance because of inadequate treatment, not taking the prescribed regimen appropriately or using low-quality medication. Drug resistant TB is a serious and common problem that happens to a lot of people. Usually when people see they are getting better, they start to stop taking medication. By doing this, it would take them a longer period of time and stronger medication to kill the bacteria. Many different antibiotics are used. Pyrazinamide and Ethambutol for the first two months, and only Rifampicin and Isoniazid for the last four months . Where resistance to Isoniazid is high, Ethambutol may be added for the last four months as an alternative. At the first two months, medication made a lot of changes in Dad’s body such as bringing chilly fevers at night and yellow urine. These changes were normal, as the doctor assured. In addition to make his lungs heal faster, he had been eating a lot of special vegetables that are good for lungs, and he was determined to stop smoking. He also used separate bowls and spoons in order to not spread the bacteria to any other members in the family. We had been counting every single day and eventually, 9 months passed.
After finishing all of medications in the treatment plan, he was still required to take the X-ray and the sputum test again. The result this time was negative. But Dad did not smile. He recalled the vigorous time fighting with tuberculosis that seemed to last forever just because of his carelessness. On top of that, he learned a lesson of the importance of being aware of any unusual changes in the body, and preventing a worse situation by getting early treatment, before it is too late.
After finishing all of medications in the treatment plan, he was still required to take the X-ray and the sputum test again. The result this time was negative. But Dad did not smile. He recalled the vigorous time fighting with tuberculosis that seemed to last forever just because of his carelessness. On top of that, he learned a lesson of the importance of being aware of any unusual changes in the body, and preventing a worse situation by getting early treatment, before it is too late.