“Tuberculosis (TB) germs spread through the air from one person to another.
TB germs can get into the air when someone with active TB disease coughs, speaks, or sings.
People nearby may breathe in these germs and become infected.
People with inactive TB, also called latent TB infection, cannot spread TB germs to other”
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/tb/causes/index.html)
How does PTB develop? TB bacilli enters the body and lodges in the lungs (TB Infection). In the lungs, they multiply and slowly eat the cells and the body begins to experience symptoms (TB Disease) A person who develops a TB disease, when remain untreated, can then begin to infect others. In some cases, the TB germ migrates to other body organs and begin to destroy them, thus the advent of extra-pulmonary (outside) cases of Tuberculosis like TB of the meninges, bones, etc. A TB disease that remains untreated leads to death.
Airborne to prevent the transmission of highly contagious or virulent infections spread by small airborne droplets (smaller than 5 microns) examples know or suspected TB, chicken pox.
Airborne Precautions: spread of microbes on small droplet nuclei through the air ( 5 microns); which transmit 3 feet in air. (ie) TB, Mumps; Pertussis; Influenza; SARS. Private room / or cohort clients, and mask worn if within 3 feet.
TB can be transmitted in just about any setting. It can be spread in places such as homes or worksites. However, TB is most likely to be transmitted in health care settings when health care workers and patients come in contact with persons who have unsuspected TB disease, who are not receiving adequate treatment, and who have not been isolated from others. All health-care settings need an infection-control program designed to ensure the following:
The TB infection-control program should be based on the following three-level hierarchy of control measures:
The first and most important level of the hierarchy, administrative controls, are management measures that are intended to reduce the risk or exposure to persons with infectious TB. These control measures consist of the following activities:
The second level of the hierarchy is the use of environmental controls to prevent the spread and reduce the concentration of infectious droplet nuclei. This includes two types of environmental control.
The third level of the hierarchy is the use of respiratory-protection control. It consists of the use of personal protective equipment in situations that pose a high risk of exposure to TB disease.
Use of respiratory protection equipment can further reduce risk for exposure of health care workers to infectious droplet nuclei that have been expelled into the air from a patient with infectious TB disease. The following measures can be taken to reduce the risk for exposure:
The infectiousness of a TB patient is directly related to the number of droplet nuclei carrying M. tuberculosis (tubercle bacilli) that are expelled into the air. The number of tubercle bacilli expelled by a TB patient depends on the following factors:
Patients can be considered noninfectious when they meet all of the following three criteria:
“A person with active TB will have symptoms. A person with latent, or inactive, TB will have no symptoms.
You may still have a TB infection, but the bacteria in your body is not yet causing harm. You may experience other symptoms related to the function of a specific organ or system that is affected. Coughing up blood or mucus (sputum) is a sign of in TB of the lungs. Bone pain may mean that the bacteria have invaded your bones.
These symptoms can also occur with other diseases, so it is important to see a healthcare provider and to let them find out if you have TB. If you think you have been exposed to TB, get a TB test.”
American Lung Association (https://www.lung.org/lung-health-diseases/lung-disease-lookup/tuberculosis/symptoms-diagnosis)
Symptoms of active TB include a cough that contains thick, cloudy, and sometimes bloody mucus from the lungs, called sputum, for more than two weeks, tiredness and weight loss, night sweats and a fever, a rapid heartbeat, swelling of the lymph nodes, and shortness of breath and chest pain.
There are numerous ways for a doctor to diagnose a patient with tuberculosis. Doctors can typically find latent, or not active, TB by doing a tuberculin skin test, where TB antigens are injected under the skin. If the patient has TB bacteria within their body, a red bump will appear at the injection spot in two days. A blood test can also be performed to detect if a patient has TB. For doctors to discover pulmonary TB, they will often test a sample of mucus from the lungs to see if the TB bacteria are present there. Other tests may include further testing on sputum, or mucus from the lungs, other blood tests, or a chest X-ray to find pulmonary TB. To diagnose extrapulmonary TB, a doctor may take a sample of tissue, or a biopsy, to test as well as a CT scan or an MRI to get a clear visual of the inside of the patient’s body.
In the majority of cases, doctors will combine four antibiotics to treat active TB, and it is essential for patients to take this medicine for a minimum of six months.
A majority of patients are cured of the TB bacteria if they take all the required medicine necessary to destroy the infection. If tests performed by a doctor reveal active TB is still present in the body after six months, treatment will continue for another two or three months. In the worst case scenario, if the TB bacteria is still resistant to multiple antibiotics, called multidrug-resistant TB, treatment will be necessary for one year or longer. Patients with latent TB may be treated with one antibiotic they consume daily for nine months or with a combination of antibiotics taken once a week for twelve weeks. Ensuring every dose is taken reduces the risk of a patient with latent TB to develop active TB.
There is no guaranteed way for an individual to prevent TB from happening to them or a loved one, but there are some helpful tips individuals can implement if they are at risk or around someone with active TB. As previously stated, latent TB is not contagious and extrapulmonary TB is much more challenging to spread compared to active pulmonary TB. One thing everybody can do to stop the spread of this infection is to get vaccinated, whether as a child or as an adult.
Individuals who are at risk of developing TB or who work with patients who have active TB should always wash and sanitize their hands after they have come into contact with the patient. If an individual is visiting a loved one with TB or taking care of a patient, due to the airborne nature of this infection, uninfected individuals should also keep a healthy distance and wear a mask to prevent them from coming into contact with TB bacteria. Patients who have severe TB should also be quarantined for a time to reduce the risk of spreading the disease as well.
Despite the stigma surrounding this curable disease, with the proper treatment and a bit of patience, individuals infected with tuberculosis can get onto the road to recovery and be healthy sooner rather than later!
“A total of 1.3 million people died from TB in 2022 (including 167 000 people with HIV). Worldwide, TB is the second leading infectious killer after COVID-19 (above HIV and AIDS).
In 2022, an estimated 10.6 million people fell ill with tuberculosis (TB) worldwide, including 5.8 million men, 3.5 million women and 1.3 million children. TB is present in all countries and age groups. TB is curable and preventable.
Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) remains a public health crisis and a health security threat. Only about 2 in 5 people with drug resistant TB accessed treatment in 2022.”
World Health Organization – WHO (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tuberculosis)
TB commonly affects lungs.
Spreads via coughing and talking near someone so in active TB the patient is put in droplet isolation. A restricted room and anyone who visits the pt in the room wears a mask.
Tuberculosis is an infectious disease usually caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but can also affect other parts of the body.
Approximately 8.6 million individuals are diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB), and 1.3 million will die of the disease globally, but it is commonly found in the developing world. TB is a highly contagious but treatable infection that predominantly affects the lungs and throat, but can also spread to the kidney, bones, and brain. So what is tuberculosis exactly? Find out what causes this highly contagious infection, who is most at risk for developing it, and how to treat the different kinds and prevent the spreading of this old world disease.
Tuberculosis, commonly abbreviated to TB, is an infection caused by slow-growing bacteria that festers in areas of the body containing an abundant amount of blood and oxygen, hence why it is commonly found in the lungs. TB found in the lungs is known as pulmonary TB and tuberculosis that spreads to other organs is called extrapulmonary TB. TB is highly contagious, but treatment is often effective and can take between six to nine months to treat, or in severe cases, can take up to two years to treat an infected patient. TB can also be either latent or active. Latent TB is when the immune system is defending the body against TB bacteria and keeping it from becoming active, with no visible symptoms. Active TB is when the TB bacteria are growing inside of the body and symptoms have become noticeable in the patient, and it is easy to spread the disease to others= CONTAGIOUS.
Pulmonary TB is contagious, however extrapulmonary TB does not spread as easily as it is usually contained within another part of the body. TB spreads when an individual has active TB breathes out air that has the TB bacteria in it and another individual breathes in the bacteria from the air. Even more bacteria can become airborne when an infected person coughs or laughs as well.
RISK FACTORS IN DEVELOPING TUBERCULOSIS:
1-Those at risk of developing TB are individuals who have HIV or another illness that weakens the immune system, individuals who have close contact with a patient with active TB such as living in the same house as an infected patient, and those caring for a patient with active TB, such as doctors and nurses.
2-Other risk factors include individuals who live or work in crowded places such as prisons, nursing homes, homeless shelters or wherever individuals may have active TB, as well as individuals who abuse drugs and alcohol.
3- Individuals with poor access to health care, where it is commonly seen in the developing world, as well as homeless individuals and migrant farm workers.
4-As well, traveling to places where untreated TB is common puts an individual at risk, such as Latin America, Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Russia. It is important to note individuals who are at a high risk for developing TB should get tested once or twice a year.
5-As well, traveling to places where untreated TB is common puts an individual at risk, such as Latin America, Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Russia. It is important to note individuals who are at a high risk for developing TB should get tested once or twice a year. So people who make it in the United States via customs with this disease or left here to another country picking up TB bringing it in America passing customs put many at risk and pick up the TB and continue spreading it till treated and healed. Just like the others who pick it up in or out of America but spread it in the U.S. There needs to be closer checking on visitors coming in or citizens that leave home and come back in America to be checked for TB. This will help decrease the amount of people in America with TB by getting diagnosed immediately with treatment.
“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health Literacy is the degree to which an individual has the capacity to obtain, communicate, process, and understand basic health information and services to make appropriate health decisions.
Health literacy is important for everyone because, at some point in our lives, we all need to be able to find, understand, and use health information and services.
Studies consistently show that a significant number of people have problems reading, understanding, and acting on health information.
This is an issue because health information is complex and can be hard to understand, and health providers are not necessarily skilled communicators. When organizations or people create and give others health information that is too difficult for them to understand, or we expect them to figure out health services with many unfamiliar, confusing or even conflicting steps, a health literacy problem is created.
Patients also bring a wide range of learning needs to the healthcare experience.
Basic literacy skills, language, age, disability, cultural context, and emotional responses can all affect the way people receive and process information — and the way people process information, in turn, has a direct impact on health outcomes and cost.”
District Health Department (https://www.dhd10.org/healthy-literacy-month/)
During the month of October, Health Literacy Month encourages everyone working to provide easy access to understandable health information. For more than 20 years, October has been recognized as Health Literacy Month. Health Literacy Month is a time of international observance when hospitals, health centers, literacy programs, libraries, social service agencies, businesses, professional associations, government agencies, consumer alliances, and many other groups work collaboratively to integrate and expand the mission of health literacy.
Low health literacy is more prevalent among:
What Are the Consequences of Low Health Literacy? – The two major areas that are impacted by low health literacy are “economic costs to society and the health-care system, and costs in terms of the human burden of disease” (Institute of Medicine, 2004). There is also considerable psychological suffering created by low health suffering. Within those overarching categories, the results of low health literacy (as measured by reading and numeracy skills) can include:
During this time, organizations and individuals promote the importance of understandable health information along with bringing awareness to breaking down the barriers of understanding. According to health experts, there is a large gap between the way health care issues are communicated by professionals, and the ability of the average person to understand them. Most people have limited health literacy… Not just those with limited reading or writing skills. If someone struggles to understand health literacy, statistically, they are more likely to skip important medical tests, have a harder time living with conditions, and visit the emergency room more often. This is why understanding health literacy is so important for everyone.
The good news is, that many health care facilities are trying to improve the way they communicate with patients to make sure everything is clear before the patient leaves. They are doing things like simplifying their written materials, using video and photos to teach patients, and more to help doctors clearly get their message across.
There are a few things you can do to improve your own health literacy individually or as a organization:
1. Improve your communication with health professionals. Make a list of your symptoms before you go in, have questions written down, and take a few notes when your doctor is explaining things to you.
2. Make sure you know who to call with any questions when you leave.
3. Attend health education programs at a library, community center, or anywhere you can find them in your community.
4. Talk to local schools and request that kids are taught about health literacy and education so they are prepared as they get older.
5. Hold a staff training to teach staff to use simple language, short sentences, and explain medical terms. Some useful tools for measuring individual.
6. Update materials for your organization to include similar resources in the primary language for Limited English Proficiency.
“Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM) is a national campaign dedicated to raising awareness about domestic violence. Every October, organizations and individuals unite across the country for a national effort to uplift the needs, voices, and experiences of survivors. Congress declared the month of October to be Domestic Violence Awareness Month in 1989.”
Domestic Violence Awareness Project (https://www.dvawareness.org/HealHoldCenter)
We live in a scary world and for reasons society inflicted on itself; regarding the thought process or how our mind works. Domestic Violence is violent or aggressive behavior within the home, typically involving the violent abuse of a spouse or partner.
People are often confronted with feelings of disappointment, frustration and anger as they interact with government officials, co-workers, family and even fellow commuters; which is people just in society. Most can control their actions to the extent that relatively few of these interactions end in a radical action like being racist to violence.
What help build a individuals feelings to turn out in a negative result (like bullying someone to protesting to worse rioting to violence or killing) is factors.
Factors being:
First let’s look at what turns anger into action?
The answer to this is mostly cognitive control or to use a less technical term, self-control. University of Michigan professor of social psychology, Richard Nisbett, the world’s greatest authority on intelligence, plainly said that he’d rather have his son being high in self-control than intelligence, one year ago. Self-control is the key to a well-functioning life, because our brain makes us easily [susceptible] to all sorts of influences. Watching a movie showing violent acts predisposes us to act violently. Even just listening to violent rhetoric makes us prone or more inclined to be violent. Ironically, the same mirror neurons that make us empathic make us also very vulnerable to all sorts of influences. This is why control mechanisms are so important. If you think about it, there must be control mechanisms for mirror neurons. Mirror neurons are cells that fire when you grab a cup of coffee (to give you an example) as well as when you see someone else grabbing a cup of coffee. So, how come you don’t imitate all the time? The idea is that there are systems in the brain that help us by imitating only “internally”—they dampen the activity of mirror neurons when we simply watch, so that we can still have the sort of “inner imitation” that allows us to empathize with others, without any overt imitation. The key issue is the balance of power between these control mechanisms that we call top-down—because they are all like executives that control from the top down to the employees—and bottom-up mechanisms, in the opposite direction, like mirror neurons. This is whereby perception—watching somebody making an action—influences decisions—making the same action ourselves.
Neuroscience uncovered why people behave so violently looking into the Virginia Tech Massacre in 2007 with many other like incidents also which were still a small percentage of people. What happens in these individuals is that their cognitive control mechanisms are deranged. Mind you, these individuals are not out-of-control, enraged people. They just use their cognitive control mechanisms in the service of a disturbed goal. There are probably a multitude of factors at play here. The subject is exposed to influences that lead him or her to violent acts—including, unfortunately, not only the violent political rhetoric but also the media coverage of similar acts, as we are doing here. A variety of issues, especially mental health problems that lead to social isolation, lead the subject to a mental state that alters his or her ability to exercise cognitive control in a healthy manner. Again also childhood plays a big role. The cognitive control capacities of the subject get somewhat redirected—we don’t quite understand how—toward goals and activities that are violent in a very specific way. Not the violent outburst of somebody who has “lost it” in a bar, punching people right and left. The violence is channeled in a very specific plan, with a very specific target—generally fed by the media (like take the protesting that has gone on from Missouri to New York for a month or more with media showing every news flash each day)through some sort of rhetoric, political or otherwise—with very specific tools, in the Giffords case, a 9-millimeter Glock.
Now lets look at what are the signs of a person who is disturbed enough to take some form of action to killing. The signs are quite visible, although difficult to interpret without a context—and unfortunately they unfold very quickly , and people can rarely witness them before the action is taken (which happened with Brinsley in New York killing officers in Brooklyn on duty just doing their job), . The action itself is a sign, a desperate form of communication from a disturbed individual (Brinsley did put on the internet a warning the day it was going to be done, Sat 12/20/14. Unfortunately, nobody was chatting with the guy when he left his final messages on Internet before getting into action. But I bet that if somebody was communicating with him before the act and saw those signs and read those messages on social network he was using, that person could have done something, could have engaged him in a sort of conversation that might have redirected his deranged plans. Indeed, by connecting with the subject, that person might have redirected some of the activity of mirror neurons toward a truly empathic behavior, rather than in the service of the deranged imitative violence leading to action.
Now we have Ukraine vs Israel War with now Former President Trump having attempted assassinations not once but THREE times because people did not agree to want him as President of the U.S. What is this world coming to.
My readers I could go on with more examples of people killing but I am sure you listen to the news or read it somehow but I tell you this information not to persecute a person, not even a race or politician but to LEARN HOW THE BRAIN WORKS. Most importantly to PARENTS bring your children up AS A CHILD not as an adult until they reach adulthood with giving good direction and guidance as their primary mentor. You the parents make our next generation who are now children and even for future parents learn so they will have a more productive working society. For now the society in America works as a nonproductive unit of people to all races, creeds, genders, sex preferences, & nationalities of all kinds. Especially in being compared to the 1980’s; yes they had their problems but not like today’s with people treating each other with more respect even if things didn’t go their way. Our nation didn’t go off the deep end where it was allowing us to have freedom of everything without limitations or better rules/regulations legally in place not followed which we are paying a good price for today for allowing this behaviour and will take a very long time to fix. Remember when someone or now a group of people get hurt you can forgive but healing is like a wound it takes time to heal. Example: Look at Hitler, people who haven’t forgiven him, those that did have not forgotten it and they shouldn’t since he caused such a disaster to the human race. Protesting can be effective where its peaceful, quiet, and not bothering other people in the area who aren’t involved. Look at Missouri and New York City this past 15 years, MUCH DAMAGE due to not thinking first but acting out first.
Take A Stand is a call to action meant to bring attention to the issue of domestic violence for Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM) and throughout the year. By taking a stand we intend to remind the nation that there are still countless people–victims and survivors, their children and families, their friends and family, their communities–impacted by domestic violence. We, all of us, should not stop until society has zero tolerance for domestic violence and until all victims and survivors can be heard.
Take A Stand is a call to action meant to bring attention to the issue of domestic violence for Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM) and throughout the year. By taking a stand we intend to remind the nation that there are still countless people–victims and survivors, their children and families, their friends and family, their communities–impacted by domestic violence. We, all of us, should not stop until society has zero tolerance for domestic violence and until all victims and survivors can be heard.
Taking a stand against domestic violence means speaking up when we see or hear behaviors that contribute to a culture where violence lives. This could mean trying to stop violence before it starts by promoting healthy relationships and attitudes, supporting survivors of violence when they come forward, or intervening if you see someone acting violently toward another person. Before you intervene in a situation, think about your personal safety, the safety of others, your relationship with the people involved, and what your options are for intervening.
Strategies on how to take a stand:
1) Refocus the Conversation
This is the least direct approach to intervening as a bystander, by refocusing the conversation away from the offensive comment or person. The goal is to not give an audience to the comment or person by changing the situation. This approach can work especially well if you are uncomfortable confronting the offender directly for any reason, like someone in a position of power. You could ask for the time, ask for directions, make a joke, tell a story, or even spill your drink. If the comment is toward a specific person, you could take a more direct approach and verbally support the target without addressing the offender.
2) Engage Others in Intervention
In this approach, the goal is to use the situation to promote a new positive perspective for all the bystanders. You can do this by asking the group a question that challenges the idea you think is problematic without directly refuting it. For example, if a friend or family member makes a victim blaming comment about someone returning to a relationship where there is domestic violence, you could say, “I know it’s easy to ask why victims go back when we hear about domestic violence, but maybe a better question would be why someone would think it’s okay to harm or control someone they love.”
3) A Direct Confrontation
In this case, the bystander approaches the person who made the offending comment and explains why what they said is a problem, or how the comment made the bystander feel. You could choose to confront the situation right away or wait for a moment of privacy with this person. It could also be good to seek the support of another friend, especially if you worry that your approach will not be taken seriously.
Your goal is to make whoever you’re approaching consider, even briefly, why their behavior is problematic with the hope of influencing future behavior.
