Saturday, October 8, 2011

tuberculosis and pneumonia at the same time,, help

tuberculosis and pneumonia at the same time,, help?
the doctor diagnosed my cousin with tuberculosis and pneumonia and 60& of his left lung is filled with fluid or something,,i think its sputum,, and he cant cough it out,, it like rock solid in there,, does he need an operation or something to get it all out? and do water really helps to cure him? cuz my aunt said so,, cheers XD
Respiratory Diseases - 3 Answers
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1 :
I dont know about TB, but most people naturally get the fluid out of their lungs from pneumonia. I dont know of anyone who coughed it out, but the human body is made to withstand this kind of abuse and has ways to get the lungs cleared out. Hopefully a doctor can answer more specifically.
2 :
TB pneumonia is tricky. I hope he's in a hospital where they have some expertise on this type of illness. It's possible that they may need to remove part of a lung that has the tuberculosis in it, but that's hard to say since I have no idea where that infection is located. Drinking water will help if his lung is filled with mucus, but it's more likely pus - for which he needs to be on IV antibiotics. Plus...if he has active TB, he is infectious to anyone he spends time with. Make sure you and your family are tested and treated if the test is positive.
3 :
Pneumonia is a non-specific term denoting inflammation of the lung tissue (not the wall of tracheobronchial tree, that happens in brochitis. But many times they co-exist.), that may be due to virus, bacteria, fungus etc. So, tuberculosis (caused by a bacteria) can also produce pneumonia or the inflammation in the lung. Solidification (called hepatization) followed by liquefaction and coughing out of the fluid produced due to inflammation, are normal sequelae in the course of pneumonia. This results in complete recovery or part fibrosis. Hope I could make it clear. Good luck to your cousin! With modern antibiotics and other therapy I am 100% sure he will be OK. Edit- Infectivity. Not all cases are infectious as suggested by someone here. The infected part of lung, if in continuity with tracheobronchial tree or the respirastory passage, may spill bacteria in the respiratory passage. ONLY then the cases (called open tbc) are infectious and cease to be doing so soon after starting the antibiotic therapy. This is to assure the family members. Of course a proper hygiene must be followed. Anti-tbc antibiotics- Most are given orally. They are effective and well tolerated

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