Pathophysiology of a disorder

Respond to your colleagues post who selected different disorders and factors than you, in the following ways:

Share insights on how the factor you selected (age, gender) impacts the pathophysiology of the disorder your colleague selected.
Expand on your colleague’s posting by providing additional insights or contrasting perspectives based on readings and evidence.

Colleague's Post

Tuberculosis

Scenario

24 yr old female comes into the ED with c/o shortness of breath, a persistent productive

cough x 6 wks. Purulent blood tinged sputum noted with the cough. Further assessment reveals

that the patient’s appetite has been poor during this time and she has lost 20 lbs in the past

month. Patient also states that has also been experiencing fatigue, night sweats, and low grade

fever in the past two weeks. Patient states that she is a commercial sex worker, lives in a

shelter and also smokes a pack of cigarettes per day.

Chosen factor: Behavior

        According to Huether & McCance (2017), the single greatest risk factor for reactivation

of Tuberculosis infection is HIV. Considering the patient in the scenario above is a commercial

sex worker and also lives in a shelter, as a provider, it would be imperative to consider testing

for HIV among many other tests including but not limited to chest x-ray, two immunoassays,

and a sputum culture. Lo ̈nnroth et. al (2009) state that living in a crowded environment is a

social determinant foe tuberculosis. Apart from the patient in the above scenario being a

commercial sex worker, she also lives in a shelter which is a risk factor for Tuberculosis.

Pathophysiology and cellular function changes

        Mahamed et. al (2017) state that Tuberculosis is an infection which is caused by an acid-

fast bacillus known as Mycobacterium tuberculosis. During a TB infection, the bacilli cause the

lungs to be inflamed. This triggers an immune response which causes the alveolar macrophages

and neutrophils to activate. In a quest to get rid of the bacilli and prevent the spread of the

infection, the phagocytes engulf the bacilli. Due to the bacilli’s ability to resist lysosomal killing

by the phagocytes, it leads to creation of lesions in the lungs which cause formation of scar

tissue in the lungs. This ultimately affects aeration in the lungs which may present as shortness

of breath in the patient.

Sample Solution