Tuberculosis and Cavities

 

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Tuberculosis and Cavities

The major site of infection of tuberculosis is the lungs. Tuberculosis causes the lymph nodes in the lung to enlarge, can appear like pneumonia, can cause extensive scarring, and even cause part of the lung to cave in and form cavities.

Cavitary lung disease from any cause is considered quite dangerous because of the destruction of lung tissue and also due to the fact that the cavities contain pus and bacteria.

When I listened to the lung of this little girl, I could hear hollow sounds over the cavity which are called "amphoric", like the sounds made by blowing across the mouths of jars used in antiquity (amphora). When my stethoscope moved slightly away from the cavity, the hollow sound disappeared. This is different than tubular breath tones which are heard in areas of consolidation like pneumonia.

Identifying a pediatric tuberculosis case in the community usually means that there is an unidentified adult(s) that is/are spreading the disease because small kids usually do not spread tuberculosis. However, this girl would be considered infectious for tuberculosis because her lung cavities can contain tuberculosis germs and she is old enough to generate a strong cough and spread the germs to others.