Ganglionic Tuberculosis: symptoms, contagion and treatment

Ganglionar tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosiss, popularly known as the bacillus of Koch, which affects the ganglios of the buttocks, the chest, the armpits or the English, and less frequently the region of the abdomen.

This type of tuberculosis is more frequent in patients with HIV and in women between 20 and 40 years of age, as opposed to pulmonary tuberculosis, which is more frequent in men with a more advanced age.

Together with pleural tuberculosis, ganglionic tuberculosis is the most frequent type of extrapulmonary tuberculosis and can be cured whenever treatment with antibiotics recommended by a neurologist is initiated.

main symptoms

The ganglionar tuberculosis produces general symptoms such as low fever and weight loss, this can be done with the person not seeking medical help immediately. Other symptoms present are:

• Inflamed ganglia in the buttocks, back of the neck, armpits or English, usually 3 cm in diameter but can reach 8-10 cm in diameter.
• Inflamed ganglia are not painful;
• The ganglia are hard and difficult to move;
• Decreased appetite;
• You may have exaggerated night sweats;
• Low temperature of 38º C, especially at the end of the day;
• Excessive tiredness.

In the presence of these symptoms, it is important to seek guidance from a general practitioner or a neurologist so that the diagnosis is made and the treatment begins as soon as possible.

Is ganglionic tuberculosis contagious?

If ganglionar tuberculosis is contagious, which is why contact with people who may have this disease should be avoided, especially if the treatment has started within 15 days.

How do you get infected

In extrapulmonary tuberculosis, Koch’s bacillus normally enters the body through the respiratory passages, but it does not lodge in the lungs, but in other parts of the body, being able to generate different types of tuberculosis, including the main ones:

• ganglionic tuberculosiswhich is the most common type of extrapulmonary tuberculosis and is characterized because it lodges in the ganglia.
• milia tuberculosisr, which is the most serious type of tuberculosis and occurs when it Mycobacterium tuberculosis it reaches the blood stream and can go to different organs, including the lung, causing several complications;
• bone tuberculosiswhere the bacteria lodges in the bones causing pain and inflammation that hinders movement and favors the loss of bone mass.

The bacteria can remain inactive in the organism for a long time until some situation such as stress, for example, leads to the reduction of the immune system, favoring its proliferation and, consequently, the manifestation of the illness.

how to diagnose

The diagnosis of tuberculosis can be difficult, as the disease produces very generalized symptoms, causing the disease to be confused with a simple flu, for example.

Therefore, after evaluating the symptoms, the doctor could request a pulmonary X-ray and a microbiological examination to verify if there is any presence of bacteria. In addition, you can also request a biopsy of the inflamed ganglion, sending a sample to the laboratory for further analysis, as well as a complete hematology and PCR.

The average time between the onset of symptoms and the diagnosis of extrapulmonary tuberculosis varies from 1 to 2 months, but can reach 9 months.

How is lymph node tuberculosis treated

Treatment for ganglionic tuberculosis is carried out under the guidance of a neurologist, infectious disease specialist or general practitioner, and the use of antibiotics for at least 6 months is usually indicated, and in some cases it is necessary to perform a surgery to remove the inflamed ganglion.

The antibiotics normally indicated are Rifampicin, Isoniazid, Pyrazinamide and Ethambutol and the treatment must be followed by the doctor’s advice, if not interrupted, they can cause bacterial resistance, which can complicate the condition of the person, because the antibiotics that before it worked dejan de tener action on las bacterias.