Nursing: Concepts of epidemiology and nursing research applied to a communicable disease

Epidemiology of Tuberculosis
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Epidemiology of TB
Communicable diseases are illnesses caused by viruses, germs, and bacteria. They can be spread from one person to another through contact with body fluids, contaminated surfaces, blood transfusion, air, and insect bites. Tuberculosis is a highly contagious communicable disease transmitted from an infected individual to an uninfected person through coughs, sneezes, and when an individual speaks. Tuberculosis is caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis. The etiological agent is mycobacterium tuberculosis. The bacterium is transferred from one person to another through the air and is passed to the lungs, affecting the lungs and the surrounding organs (Glaziou, Floyd & Raviglione, 2018). When an individual with active TB disease in their lungs coughs or sneezes, another person will inhale the expelled droplets which contain the mycobacterium tuberculosis and get infected with the bacterium. However, TB is not as contagious as the flu and cold, and individuals may have to spend much time with an infected person to contract the disease.
The symptoms of TB may present differently from one person to another and depends on the affected part. Patients with TB infection usually present with low appetite, loss of body weight, high temperatures, night sweats, and extreme fatigue. Sometimes, TB can affect the lungs and cause persistent coughing for more than three weeks, which is usually bloody and can cause breathlessness that deteriorates progressively. When the bacterium resides outside the lungs, affected persons may have persistently swollen glands and headache, seizures, abdominal pain, and pain in affected bones or joints. Tuberculosis that develops outside the lungs affects the immune system, the digestive system, reproductive system, bladder, brain, bones, and joints (Vluggen et al., 2017). TB presents with fatal complications such as joint damage and heart disorders if not treated at its initial stages. The bacterium generally affects the lungs and can spread to other organs if mycobacterium’s active form is not treated. Other complications include pain in the spinal cord, meningitis, heart disorders, and kidney problems.
The diagnosis of TB involves assessing the lymph nodes for swellings and using a stethoscope to assess the lungs’ sounds while individuals breathe (Vluggen et al., 2017). Other techniques of TB diagnosis include sputum tests, imaging, and blood tests. After diagnosis, the patients will receive proposed medical interventions, including the administration of isoniazid, Rifampin, Ethambutol, and Pyrazinamide drugs. Individuals with drug-resistant TB may be given antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones and injectable drugs such as Capreomycin and amikacin. Some drugs which may be used as an add-on therapy include linezolid and Badaquiline. TB is a reportable disease, and an individual suspecting to have been in contact with infected persons should contact their doctor or immediate healthcare providers (Smyth et al., 2018). On the other hand, medical practitioners should report any patient suspected to have active TB disease to the TB Control Section within one working day (Chen et al., 2016). The diagnosis and treatment of TB are more prevalent in Africa, the West Pacific, and Eastern Europe than the US. As of 2018, about 1.7 billion people were infected with mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is equal to 23% of the global population. In the United States, medical practitioners are required by the law to report TB cases in their respective departments. The process is essential for controlling the spread to other patients and even to the physicians and ensuring the infected individuals receive appropriate care and treatment.
One of the powerful social determinants of TB is poverty. Low individuals tend to reside in densely populated zones with poor ventilation and working conditions, direct risks for tuberculosis transmission. Poverty is also linked to undernutrition and poor health knowledge, leading to higher chances of exposure to many TB risks such as smoking, alcohol abuse, and HIV (Chen et al., 2016). Generally, the social determinants of TB are food security and malnutrition, poor housing and ventilation, geographical location, and people’s financial status. Other factors include cultural barriers that hinder access to healthcare, environmental conditions, and overcrowding—the social determinants of tuberculosis influence the distinct stages in the development of mycobacterium tuberculosis. The four stages of TB pathogenesis include exposure to the bacterium, progression to disease, diagnosis, and treatment.
TB had been rated as a highly contagious disease that affects the lungs and is caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis. The bacterium affects the lungs and can also attack the spine, the brain, and the kidneys. The disease is commonly transmitted from contact with an infected person through sneezing, coughing, and speaking (Glaziou, Floyd & Raviglione, 2018). The chances of getting in contact with infected individuals are higher when the contact is prolonged during intimacy, the degree of infectiousness of the case, and the environmental conditions. Tuberculosis’s epidemiology involves the host, agent, and the environment that predisposes individuals to the condition. The agent is the bacterium mycobacterium tuberculosis, affecting the lungs’ respiratory system (Chen et al., 2016). The host is the infected person who is capable of transmitting the infection to surrounding individuals through coughs, sneezes, and saliva when they speak. The infection is common in the world, with an estimation of about 2 billion people affected. TB has been traced since 2400BC in the spinal fragments of bones and spines of mummies and bones in Egypt. Individuals from poor communities, those that smoke, with other medical conditions such as diabetes, polluted environments, and the malnourished persons are more predisposed to TB compared to those consuming healthy diets, inappropriate hosing and ventilation, and the educated.
Infants and children below two years are more susceptible to tuberculosis. Their parents or house managers have infected most of those who present with TB (Khatami & Marais, 2018). According to WHO, the Engage-TB program is a particular program that aims at educating the general population on diseases and the need to seek healthcare (Smyth et al., 2018). The program also provides notification during disease and pandemic outbreaks in their operation zone. ENGAGE-TB offers guidelines for NGOs and CSOs working at the community level on healthcare and other initiatives such as education, agriculture, and schemes. The guidelines are meant to integrate TB prevention, early diagnosi...