Saliva killing is usually a plot that can only be seen in martial arts or divine dramas, but a British newspaper reported a bizarre news:
A 35-year-old Ukrainian policewoman was spat on her face when she arrested the suspect and later learned that the suspect had tuberculosis. The policewoman died of tuberculosis because she was found late and missed the best treatment time.
After reading this report, I believe many friends want to ask: Can one mouthful of saliva infect tuberculosis? Tuberculosis is an incurable disease?
The following Dr. Clove will give you an analysis of these problems.
Can a mouthful of saliva infect tuberculosis?
Tuberculosis is also called consumption, also known as “white plague” among the people. Its essence is a bacterial infection, which is called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is indeed contagious, but infection is conditional.
1. It is not saliva that is poisonous, but sputum.
Tuberculosis is mainly transmitted to others through droplets emitted by patients when coughing, sneezing or talking loudly. The droplets are not saliva (saliva), but sputum.
If you don’t clear your throat and cough, saliva is mostly vomited out of your mouth, and the number of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is very small.
However, sputum is secretion from respiratory tract such as lungs and trachea. Tuberculosis patients in the discharge period will contain a large number of germs in sputum. If tuberculosis patients spit everywhere, it may lead to infection of the people around them.
So to some extent, we can say that not saliva is [poisonous], but sputum is [poisonous].
2. Whether infection is related to immunity and time of contact with Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Whether infected with tuberculosis, also has a very big relationship with personal immunity. When the human immunity drops, the greater the possibility of contracting tuberculosis under the same circumstances. When immunity is strong, even contact with tuberculosis bacilli does not necessarily cause the disease.
In addition, whether infection is also related to the length of time and amount of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Usually, the longer the contact time, the more the number, the greater the possibility of infection, which is one of the reasons why relatives and friends around tuberculosis patients are more vulnerable to infection.
Therefore, it is unlikely that tuberculosis will be infected just because one mouthful of saliva is vomited into the face.
Is tuberculosis an incurable disease?
The vast majority of tuberculosis patients can be cured through standardized treatment, but the premise is to find and treat early, follow the doctor’s advice and stick to regular medication.
When you suspect that you have tuberculosis, you should go to the local tuberculosis prevention and control institution for examination in time, and you can also enjoy the national free treatment policy for tuberculosis.
However, if the treatment is not timely, stop taking drugs without permission or take drugs intermittently, it is not only easy to relapse, but also may produce drug resistance. After drug resistance, the treatment time of pulmonary tuberculosis patients is longer, the treatment cost is higher, and more side effects are produced.
If the disease is not controlled, the lungs will continue to be destroyed, leading to emphysema, pleural lesions, etc. Cardiopulmonary failure caused by this is one of the main causes of death. In addition, severe patients will suffer from hemoptysis, and suffocation caused by hemoptysis may also lead to death.
All of the above may be the causes of the death of Ukrainian policewomen. Of course, the exact cause of death still needs to exclude many other circumstances.
How to prevent tuberculosis?
Seeing this, everyone must want to know how we should prevent tuberculosis. In fact, the key point of prevention runs through our daily life:
Finding and curing patients is the most important thing. If cough and expectoration lasts for more than two weeks, or hemoptysis or bloodshot sputum, which are suspicious symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis, they should receive corresponding examination and regular treatment as soon as possible.
Dwellings should be frequently opened for ventilation to ensure air circulation in the room.
Develop good hygiene habits. Cover your mouth and nose with your hands when coughing or sneezing. Don’t face others or spit everywhere. One point to be pointed out here is to quit smoking. The damage of cigarettes to the lungs will increase the risk of tuberculosis infection.
Exercise, strengthen the body, the body resistance has improved, many diseases, including tuberculosis, of course, naturally far away.
Tuberculosis is not terrible, prevention and control depends on everyone.