Repeated close Living in an

contact with a overcrowded

person who has substandard
active TB housing
PATHOPHYSIOLOGY OF
PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS
Pre existing medical Any person w/o adequate health
conditions or special care (the homeless; minorities,
treatment particularly children under age
(malnourishment) 15 yrs and young adults between
ages 15 – 44 yrs)

Stimulate body’s immune

Susceptible person response
May or may not under go
Necrotic degeneration
(Caseation)
Initiates systematic local
Inhales tubercle bacilli inflammatory response Produces cavity filled w/
cheese-like mass of tubercle
bacilli, dead WBCs &
Go back to the Alveoli
necrotic lung tissues
Lungs (Where bacteria deposited
and multiply)
Liquefies and then may drain
into the tracheobronchial tree
Alveoli Neutrophils & macrophages and coughed up
(Where bacteria deposited (Isolate & phagocytize
and multiply) bacteria)
Air-filled cavities remain
Spread through the
and may be detected on X-
lymphatic system ray study
Most primary tubercles heal
by forming scars & calcified
Regional lesion (Ghon tubercles)
Blood-
lymph
stream Body
nodes
May contain living bacilli that
can be reactivated & cause
secondary infections