If your cough lasts this long, have your lungs checked, a new study indicates
A new study showed that this disease is often diagnosed too late, but your cough could save you.
Whether it's because something fell into the wrong pipe, your throat feels a little dry, or if you have a tickling brewing, there is probably not a day that will not touch at least once. In fact, a study published in theInfantile disease archivefound that the average child has acough episode at least 11 times a day. But if you brush your swimmer too easily, it could spell problems. A new study on Harvard has found this oneLung-related disease We often diagnosed too late because it can manifest through easily ignored symptoms, like a persistent cough. Read it to find out how long it is too long for a cough and for more symptoms than you should be checked,If you feel it at night, you have to check your liver, let's say that doctors say.
If your cough lasts more than three weeks, it could be a sign of tuberculosis.
If you have a cough that lasts more than three weeks, thiscould be a symptom of tuberculosis, according to the American Lung Association (ALA). Tuberculosis iscaused by a bacterium This attacks the lungs, so you can meet a persistent cough, depending on the disease control and prevention centers (CDC).
You can also cough the blood or mucus if tuberculosis is in your lungs, the ALA points out. Other symptoms include loss of appetite, unintentional weight loss, fever, chills and / or night sweats. And for more coupling concerns,This is how to say if your cough is Covid, say doctors.
A new study revealed that the diagnoses of active tuberculosis are often delayed.
Harvard Medical School ResearchersExamined tuberculosis diagnostic times, publishing their results on March 22 in the newspaperThe Infectious diseases lancet. They examined the medical data of nearly 19 million people from 2008 to 2016, discovering 3,389 people who had suggestive diagnostic codes of tuberculosis. Of these, 738 people ended up diagnosing active tuberculosis, but diagnoses were often delayed.
While tuberculosis is still a rare disease in the US, when it occurs, delays in capture capture often exceed the recommendations set by the World Health Organization (WHO) to diagnose and treat tuberculosis within two to three weeks. Researchers say most of the delays vary between 10 and 45 days, with some people in front of even longer delays up to 240 days.
According to researchers, one of the main reasons for diagnostic delays can be because there is a lack of clinician awareness about some symptoms of tuberculosis. "If you have a patient with a cough, a fever, a shortness of breath, especially if they are born abroad or are an older person, you should then order a chest radiograph early and, if anomalies are viewed, a Amplification of nucleic acid of tuberculosis test, "Maha farhat, MD, a senior investigator for the study and the assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, said in a statement. "Yes, these are non-specific symptoms, but the key is to think of tuberculosis as a possibility and remember that it is still present in the United States." And for more health news update directly to your inbox,Sign up for our daily newsletter.
People with active tuberculosis can transmit infection to other people.
One of the reasons for which active tuberculosis diagnoses in a given period is so important because people with an active form of this infection can broadcast it to other people. Harvard's study revealed that delayed diagnoses for active tuberculosis were related to a higher probability of infection transmitted to other household members, as well as an increased risk of disease progression.
The researchers found that more than one-quarter patients who shared a household with a person who had active tuberculosis became infected themselves and that each additional week delay in the diagnosis increased the risk of 20% infection.
"The delays we found would be any circumstance, but they are unacceptable in a well-funded health care system, such as the United States," said Farhat. And for more ways to test your health,If you can not do that in 90 seconds, your heart is in danger, the study says.
The delayed diagnoses of this disease may have serious consequences.
According to Harvard's study, 9% of these patients with active tuberculosis then developed respiratory complications and those who had delayed the diagnoses were more likely to experience these complications. The most common respiratory complications included irreversible pulmonary damage, collapsed lungs, fungal pulmonary infections and digging blood.
Patients who have developed at least one complication have been diagnosed, on average, about 32 days after the appearance of symptoms, while those who do not experience complications have been typically diagnosed and treated within 23 days - Stressing the importance of obtaining less known symptoms, such as persistent cough, like persistent cough, checked as soon as possible. And for more on your lungs, check the Symptoms of lung cancer you need to know, according to doctors .
