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Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Prevention of TB

Several points should be kept in mind regarding prevention of TB (Tuberculosis) disease. The prevention of spreading the disease from infected to healthy individual is of utmost importance. The following points may be noted in order to achieve this gaol: -

#Early detection of TB, prompt isolation and immediate treatment of the patient.
#Educating health care workers/close members of the patient about TB
#Screening health care workers/close members of the patient for TB
#Implementing effective work practices including wearing proper respiratory protection
#Preventing the spread of infectious droplets into the air by using appropriate exhaust #ventilation
#Controlling the direction of air flow to prevent air contamination adjacent to the infectious source
#Diluting the air through general ventilation
#Cleaning the air through air filtration

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Staining means coloring of the bacteria for proper viewing under the microscope. It is very important part of identifying TB bacteria. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) is a slow growing aerobic bacterium that divides in every 16 to 20 hours; this is extremely slow compared to other bacteria that have division times measured in minutes. In contrast, one of the fastest growing bacteria is a strain of E. coli that can divide roughly every 20 minutes. As MTB only has one phosphorlipid outer membrane, it is classified as Gram-positive bacteria. But if a Gram stain is performed, MTB either stains very weakly Gram-positive or does not retain dye, due to high lipid content of its cell wall. MTB is a small rod shaped bacteria (Bacillus), which can withstand weak disinfectants and can survive in a dry state for weeks. Normally the bacteria can only grow inside a host, so in vitro (outside host) culture of M. tuberculosis took a long time to develop, but is now a routine laboratory procedure. MTB is identified microscopically by its staining characteristics; it retains certain stains often being treated with acid solution & thus is classified as an “acid-fast bacillus” or AFB. This can also be visualized by fluorescent microscopy and by an auramine-rhodomine stain.
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