TB Natural History

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Inhalation of aerosol droplets containing M.

tuberculosis with
subsequent deposition in the lungs leads to one of four possible
outcomes:
• Immediate clearance of the organism
• Primary disease: immediate onset of active disease
• Latent infection
• Reactivation disease: onset of active disease many years
following a period of latent infection
• About one fourth of the world’s population is estimated to be
infected with M. tuberculosis.

• Clinical illness directly following infection is classified as


primary TB and is common among children in the first few
years of life and among immunocompromised persons.

• When infection is acquired later in life, the chance is greater


that the mature immune system will contain it at least
temporarily.
• Bacilli, however, may persist for years before
reactivating to produce secondary (or postprimary) TB

• While the bacilli is in the lungs, macrophages produce


cytokines and chemokines that attract other phagocytic cells,
including monocytes, other alveolar macrophages, and
neutrophils, which eventually form a nodular granulomatous
structure called a tubercle.

• If the bacterial replication is not controlled, the tubercle


enlarges and the bacilli enter local draining lymph nodes,
leading to lymphadenopathy.
• The lesion (called Ghon focus) produced by the expansion of
the tubercle into the lung parenchyma and lymph node
enlargement or calcification together comprise the Ranke
complex.

• The bacilli continue to proliferate until an effective cell-


mediated immune (CMI) response develops, usually 2 to 10
weeks following initial infection; this occurs in more than 90
percent of exposed infected individuals.

• In the lung, failure of the host to mount an effective CMI


response and tissue repair leads to progressive destruction of
lung.
• Unchecked bacterial growth may lead to hematogenous
spread of bacilli to produce disseminated TB.

• Disseminated disease with lesions resembling millet seeds has


been termed miliary TB.

• Bacilli can also spread mechanically by erosion of the


caseating lesions into the airways; at this point, the host
becomes infectious to others.
• In the absence of treatment, death ensues in up to 80 percent
of cases.
Reactivation TB

• results from proliferation of a previously latent bacteria seeded at the


time of the primary infection.

• Upto 10% of infected persons will eventually develop active TB in


their lifetime—half of them during the first 18 months after
infection.

• The lifetime risk of reactivation disease after an index infection is 5


to 10 percent, with a 5 percent risk in the two to five years
following infection and another 5 percent risk over the remaining
lifetime.

• Among the approximately 5 to 10 percent of infected individuals


who develop active disease, approximately half will do so within
the first two to three years following infection.
• The risk is much higher among immunocompromised
individuals and, particularly, HIV-infected persons.

Immunosuppressive conditions associated with reactivation TB


include:
• HIV infection and AIDS
• Chronic and end-stage kidney disease
• Diabetes mellitus
• Lymphoma
• Corticosteroid use
• Inhibitors of TNF-alpha and its receptor
• Diminution in cell-mediated immunity associated with age
• Cigarette smoking
• The lesion typically occurs at the lung apices, and
disseminated disease is unusual unless the host is severely
immunosuppressed.

• Individuals with one episode of active TB have noted a two- to


fourfold increased risk of a second episode of active TB
compared with individuals without prior active disease
Untreated TB

• About one-third of patients died within 1 year after diagnosis.

• 55% of sputum smear-positive cases were dead within


5 years and up to 86% within 10 years.

• A lower case fatality rate, around 20%, was estimated for


untreated paucibacillary smear-negative cases at 5 years.

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