Assessment Description:
Choose a bacteria, virus, fungus, or protozoa that causes disease in humans. Describe how the disease is diagnosed and treated.
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SOLUTION to Bio-205L Microbiology Lab - Topic 6 DQ 1.
SAMPLE 1
Hello class,
“Tuberculosis (TB) is a serious global public health challenge that results in significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. In 2016, there were more than 10.4 million reported cases and approximately 1.7 million deaths related to TB worldwide" (Sia et al., 2019). This underscores the need to understand and learn about the disease’s causative agent, diagnosis, and treatment method. According to Chandra et al. (2022), Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the causative agent of tuberculosis and has infected humans for millennia. Diagnosis of TB begins with a comprehensive medical history and physical examination. Physicians often employ the tuberculin skin test (TST) or interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) blood test to detect TB infection. However, these tests cannot distinguish between active TB and a previous infection that never showed symptoms, thus further investigation is required (CDC, 2023). For the diagnosis of active TB, chest X-ray findings are used to determine analogous lung changes that are associated with the illness.
Nonetheless, the standard tests for confirming TB are sputum microscopy and culture where the sputum samples are checked under a microscope for acid-resistant back illi and subsequently, bacterial isolation (Chandra et al., 2022). While accurate, this technique can be considered as being quite time-consuming. Thus, molecular tests like the Xpert MTB/RIF are necessary as they detect M. tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance within hours (Patel et al., 2020). After diagnosis, the standard first-line treatment for drug-susceptible TB comprises of isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide for two months and then, continues with isoniazid and rifampicin for four months (Teed et al., 2019). Conversely, drug-resistant TB requires multiple drugs, which include fluoroquinolones, injectable aminoglycosides, and other newly developed drugs such as bedaquiline. Nevertheless, with further advancements in diagnostics and treatment modalities, I believe the dream of a tuberculosis-free world endures to inspire the global health community.
References
CDC. (2023, December 15). TB Prevention in Health Care Settings. https://www.cdc.gov/tb-healthcare-settings/hcp/screening-testing/index.html
Chandra, P., Grigsby, S. J., & Philips, J. A. (2022). Immune evasion and provocation by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 20(12), 750-766. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-022-00763-4
Patel, J., Upadhyay, M., Kundnani, V., Merchant, Z., Jain, S., & Kire, N. (2020). Diagnostic efficacy, sensitivity, and specificity of Xpert MTB/RIF assay for spinal tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance. Spine, 45(3), 163-169.
Sia, J. K., & Rengarajan, J. (2019). Immunology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections. Microbiology Spectrum, 7(4), 10-1128. https://doi.org/10.1128/microbiolspec.gpp3-0022-2018
Tweed, C. D., Dawson, R., Burger, D. A., Conradie, A., Crook, A. M., Mendel, C. M., ... & Spigelman, M. (2019). Bedaquiline, moxifloxacin, pretomanid, and pyrazinamide during the first 8 weeks of treatment of patients with drug-susceptible or drug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis: a multicentre, open-label, partially randomised, phase 2b trial. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, 7(12), 1048-1058. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600(19)30366-2