Infection Control Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Infection Control - Essay Example This discovery was made by Robert Koch, a renowned German scientist and physician in 1882 (Nobel Price 2012). It was referred to as white and consumption plague then because out of seven human beings dying, one had TB. More so, it carried away more than a third of the middle age group working force. The bacterium affects body organs such as kidneys, bones, brain and most commonly, the lungs resulting to pulmonary tuberculosis. Today, the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, IUATLD (2010) documents TB as a great problem, particularly in low income countries. It has been cited as the number one killer for people between the ages of 15 and 49 with Sridharan citing it as â€Å"the single leading cause of human mortality by an infectious disease claiming 3 million lives annually with an estimated 8 million cases arising every year† (2006, p.1). Tuberculosis would be caused when an individual inhales Mycobacterium tuberculosis which enters through the lungs, sp reading to other body parts through the lymphatic system, airways, blood stream or through direct extension. IUATLD (2010, p.5) observed that 80% of tuberculosis forms would be the contagious pulmonary tuberculosis. ... Similar studies by Kempsell et al. (2001) indicate that rheumatoid arthritis patients had commensal organisms such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis trafficked from other sites of the body. The surface of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is characterised by a waxy coating, particularly mycolic acid that makes the cell Gram staining impervious as it would neither be gram positive nor gram negative (Sridharan 2006). This is the reason for application of acid-fast techniques of detection and has been classified by Guiard et al. (2009) as acid-fast Gram positive form of bacteria because its cells do not have the outer cell membrane. The micro organism is highly aerobic thus requires high amounts of oxygen. The bacteria divides slowly compared to other bacteria. It is said to divide every 20 hours whereas other bacteria divide in minutes, such as Escherichia coli which divides every twenty minutes (Medzhitov 2007). This is a small bacillus and would resist weak disinfectants and survive under dry c onditions for several weeks due to its lipid rich cell wall, a critical virulence factor. In the lungs, it would have alveolar microphages take it up but would not be digested. Again, its cell wall inhibits phagosome fusion with lysosome. According to Todar (2009), Mycobacterium tuberculosis would block early endosomal autoantigen 1, EEA1, a bridging molecule, which would however not prevent nutrient filled vesicles fusion. The bacteria would then multiply within the macrophage. Having carried UrecC gene, phagosome acidification would be inhibited. Similarly, it would evade the killing of macrophage by neutralising nitrogen intermediates that would be reactive.