infectious diseases
Tuberculosis (TB)
Symptoms and Signs of TB
Primary infectionis almost always asymptomatic, but when symptoms occur, they typically are nonspecific and include low-grade fever and fatigue without a prominent cough. Inactive pulmonary tuberculosis, even moderate or severe disease, patients may have no symptoms, except “not feeling well,” along with anorexia, fatigue, and weight loss, which develop gradually over several weeks, or they may have more specific symptoms. Cough is most common. At first, it may be minimally productive of yellow or green sputum, usually when awakening in the morning, but cough may become more productive as the disease progresses. Hemoptysis occurs only with cavitary TB (due to granulomatous damage to vessels but sometimes due to fungal growth in a cavity). Low-grade fever is common but not invariable. Drenching night sweats are a classic symptom but are neither common in nor specific for TB. Dyspnea may result from lung parenchymal damage, spontaneous pneumothorax, or pleural TB with effusion. With HIV coinfection, the clinical presentation is often atypical because delayed hypersensitivity is impaired; patients are more likely to have symptoms of extrapulmonary or disseminated disease. Extrapulmonary Tuberculosis (TB) causes various systemic and localized manifestations depending on the affected organs. 