The first stage occurs in the first week after the inhalation of the TB mycobacterium. "The droplet nuclei traverse the mouth or nasal passages, upper respiratory tract, and bronchi to reach the alveoli of the lungs."(1) The Mycobacterium tuberculosis begins to surrounded by special cells of the immune system, called macrophage, after it reaches the alveoli of the lung. These macrophages sit inside the tissue of the alveoli; their job is to ingestion and obstruct any strange object coming to the alveolar space. When theses macrophages ingest the TB mycobacterium, the events that follow largely depend on the number of TB mycobacterium and the effectiveness of the macrophage. If the number of TB mycobacterium is too large, or if the macrophage …show more content…
The TB mycobacterium start replicating exponentially, which means for every intial mycobacterium two new ones emerge. These two then duplicate two each, etc.This leads to a fast expansion of the initial TB mycobacterium, and the macrophages unable contain the spread anymore. This stage continue until the third week after primary …show more content…
It appears that at that stage, growth and destruction by macrophages are equilibrium. The body brings in more immune cells to steady the site, and the infection is under control. At least nine of ten patients infected with mycobacterium tuberculosis do not advance symptoms or physical signs of active disease and stop at stage 3. In their lungs, the TB mycobacterium and macrophages that ingested them build a spherical complex – the infected macrophages and TB mycobacterium in the center and healthy macrophages surrounding them. After the Austrian pathologist who first described it, This is named a Ghon focus. TB mycobacterium also often infect the surrounding lymph nodes. The mixture of a complex in an infected local lymph node and the lung tissue is named the primary complex (also Ghon complex). The TB mycobacterium are protected from the lung tissue; nevertheless, they can live for years in the macrophages. In this stage Patients are not contagious, for the TB mycobacterium cannot enter the bronchial and cannot be transmitted. This is called latent TB. " If the immune system is strong, the primary complex heals and leaves nothing more but a small cavity and a scar in the tissue."(2) This scar is a mark that the person has had an infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and can later be seen on