Are vodka and tuberculosis compatible? Alcohol and tuberculosis are a dangerous combination

Alcoholism Drink tea from herbs: wormwood, St. John's wort and yarrow, 1 part each, juniper berries and calamus root - 0.5 parts each. All this is cut, mixed and brewed with a large pinch of boiling water. Take elderberry or buckthorn bark 2 g, wine 0.5 l. Leave for 3–4 days, give 20–50 g 3–4

Alcoholism General information Alcoholism is a disease caused by excessive systematic consumption of alcoholic beverages with the development of a painful addiction to them. In social terms, alcoholism means abuse of alcoholic beverages (drunkenness),

Drunkenness. Alcoholism See also “Vodka”, “Booze”, “Teetotalers” The drunkard is the true center of the world; everything revolves around him. Emile Ogier* Drunk: a person who is coming towards you from several directions at the same time. NN* Alcoholic is a person who is ruined by drinking

Teetotalers See also “Drunkenness. Alcoholism" Moderate sobriety has never harmed anyone. Mark Twain as edited by John Siardi* Don't look at the world too soberly, otherwise you'll get drunk. Wieslaw Brudzinski* I don’t trust camels or anyone else who can spend a whole week

Alcoholism is a disease that develops gradually. People start drinking for various reasons. For example: drinking friends; a misfortune that they perceived tragically; psychological problems (for example, inferiority complex); just a weakness of character

Tuberculosis has long ceased to be a social disease. But, although it can affect any person, it still more often affects people who abuse alcohol. Is it possible to drink alcohol if you have tuberculosis?

Why are alcoholics more likely to suffer from this disease? There are several reasons for this:

• Antisocial lifestyle of such patients.
• Insufficient, unbalanced nutrition.
• Toxic effects of alcohol on the liver and immunity.
• Frequent hypothermia.

Chronic alcoholism is always a risk factor for the development of pulmonary tuberculosis. Such people do not take care of their health and nutrition, and they are also not very selective regarding casual acquaintances. And this increases the risk of infection.

Alcohol abuse and treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis are very poorly combined.

Treatment of tuberculosis

This disease cannot be cured with a regular course of pills. Pulmonary tuberculosis requires special antibacterial therapy, which includes 3-4 drugs that must be taken simultaneously. In some situations there may be more.

And if an alcoholic develops an antibiotic-resistant form of tuberculosis, then coping with this disease will be extremely difficult.

The course of treatment is long - from six months to several years in especially severe cases. With open forms, with bacterial excretion, patients are treated in closed medical institutions - anti-tuberculosis dispensaries.

Unfortunately, people prone to drunkenness can hardly be called disciplined and responsible patients. They often neglect therapy and forget to take medications in the right dosage on time. The result of this is various complications and the emergence of antibiotic-resistant forms of the tuberculosis process.

In addition, do not forget about the summation of the side effects of alcohol and anti-tuberculosis antibiotics, especially if the patient drinks alcohol regularly.

Summarizing side effects

One of the serious side effects of anti-tuberculosis treatment is toxicity to the liver. Most of these drugs can cause the development of drug-induced hepatitis, which usually requires adjustment of therapy.

Excessive drinking also destroys liver cells. The outcome of chronic alcoholism is hepatosis, fibrosis and cirrhosis of the liver - potentially fatal diseases.

The toxic effects of ethanol and drugs on the liver are not only cumulative, but also potentiate each other. They also negatively affect the nervous system.

Effect on the nervous system

A characteristic complication of anti-tuberculosis treatment is the development of polyneuropathy. This is a disease in which neurons are damaged and severe neurological symptoms occur.

Prevention of this pathology is the simultaneous administration of B vitamins with antibiotics. They restore the membranes of nerve fibers and contribute to the regression of polyneuropathic manifestations.

Ethanol has the same toxic effect. Drinkers develop a characteristic complication – alcoholic polyneuropathy.

It is difficult to treat, and if a person is unable to give up alcohol, the prognosis of the disease is unfavorable.

Simultaneous use of ethanol and anti-tuberculosis therapy increases the risk of developing polyneuropathy significantly.

Alcoholism and tuberculosis are serious and completely incompatible diseases. These patients have a significantly increased likelihood of serious complications, development of antibacterial resistance, and poor outcome.

Regular consumption of alcohol not only disrupts the homeostasis of the body, leads to toxic damage to the liver, brain and pancreas, but also leads to personality degradation, decreased criticism and, as a rule, a decreased standard of living. All this, combined with frequent contacts with antisocial individuals, leads to a high risk of contracting tuberculosis. People who have previously had tuberculosis with regular alcohol abuse experience relapses of the process. Persons suffering from chronic alcoholism often avoid preventive examinations. An alcoholic himself consults a doctor quite late, since he considers malaise, weakness, and vegetative disorders to be a manifestation of a hangover syndrome, and explains the appearance of a cough as smoking. Tuberculin sensitivity in patients with tuberculosis and alcoholism can be negative or reduced, which can be a consequence of both progressive tuberculosis and nutritional disorders with hypovitaminosis and dysproteinemia. All this leads to the fact that in patients with tuberculosis who abuse alcohol, as a rule, widespread destructive processes are detected, and alcoholism prevents effective treatment. As a result, there is an increase in the number of such individuals in PTD, especially in the group with chronic processes. Persons with severe forms of alcoholism are registered at a psychoneurological dispensary, while the true proportion of alcoholics among tuberculosis patients remains virtually unknown.

Chemotherapy these patients require careful monitoring. They are extremely difficult to treat on an outpatient basis because they are unable to take medications regularly. Parenteral methods of administration are widely used in their treatment. People suffering from alcoholism are more likely to develop neuro- and hepatotoxic reactions to anti-tuberculosis drugs during treatment. Prescription of vitamins B1, B12, B6 and C is mandatory. Dry skin and raspberry tongue In such patients, vitamin PP deficiency is detected. Drinking alcohol in a hospital, violations of the regime and hooliganism often lead to the discharge of the patient, a break in treatment and further progression of the process. The development of modern methods of inhalation anesthesia and pulmonary surgery does not exclude alcoholics from the list of patients in terms of surgical treatment. However, most patients with a combination of tuberculosis and alcoholism die from the progression and complications of a specific process at the age of 40-49 years.

VI. TUBERCULOSIS AND HYPERTENSION DISEASE

The combination of atherosclerosis and hypertension with pulmonary tuberculosis occurs in approximately 25% of cases. The hemodynamics of such patients are in a particularly unfavorable state; the coronary vessels of the heart suffer from atherosclerotic and toxic-allergic factors. In them, the functions of both the right and left ventricles are equally impaired, while in patients with isolated pulmonary pathology, the function of the left ventricle of the heart begins to suffer in the decompensation phase pulmonary heart. Studies in the 80s showed that systemic arterial hypertension in patients with fibrous-cavernous tuberculosis is approximately 1.5 times less common than in patients with infiltrative tuberculosis. The frequency of borderline and arterial hypertension in patients with tuberculosis was lower than in patients with COPD and chronic cholecystitis. This is associated with the hypotensive effect of tuberculosis intoxication and the high incidence of decreased function of the adrenal cortex in tuberculosis.

Systemic arterial hypertension in combination with respiratory tuberculosis can be the main cause of hemoptysis and pulmonary hemorrhage. In such patients, hemostatic therapy without adequate blood pressure reduction is often ineffective.

Older patients with systemic hypertension may not tolerate intravenous injections of isoniazid, as well as treatment with aminoglycosides.

Some antihypertensive and antiarrhythmic drugs may be unsafe for obstructive disorders of the ventilation ability of the lungs - drugs containing rauwolfia derivatives (reserpine, raunatin, etc.) and especially adrenergic blockers.

VII. TUBERCULOSIS AND ULCER DISEASE

Lesions of the gastrointestinal tract help reduce the overall resistance of the body due to dietary restrictions, dysproteinemia, and lack of vitamins and microelements. Among patients with gastric and duodenal ulcers, pulmonary tuberculosis occurs 2 times more often than among people who do not suffer from this pathology. Gastric resection increases the incidence of tuberculosis reactivation and the risk of disease in those infected. The incidence of peptic ulcer disease among patients with tuberculosis is 2-4 times higher than among the healthy population. Peptic ulcer disease often precedes tuberculosis rather than developing against its background. If peptic ulcer disease precedes tuberculosis, the specific process usually occurs in local forms. If a peptic ulcer develops in a patient with tuberculosis, the specific process is unfavorable, especially when the ulcer is localized in the stomach.

Most anti-tuberculosis drugs are prescribed per os, many of them have, to one degree or another, an irritating effect on the gastrointestinal tract. Such patients do not always tolerate pyrazinamide and rifampicin, but especially poorly tolerate PAS and ethionamide. In case of peptic ulcer, especially at the height of its exacerbation, preference is given to intramuscular, intravenous, endobronchial and rectal administration. After treatment, these patients require clinical observation, and in the presence of residual changes, chemoprophylaxis of relapses.

VIII. SILICOTUBERCULOSIS

Much more often than in the general population, tuberculosis occurs in patients with silicosis and other pneumoconioses. Most often, focal, disseminated tuberculosis and tuberculoma are combined with pneumoconiosis. Diagnosis is often difficult because radiological signs of pneumoconiosis mask the manifestations of tuberculosis. There is a pronounced radiological similarity in tuberculoma and silicoma (a conglomerate of silicotic nodules), as well as in a tuberculous cavity and disintegrated silicoma. The main distinguishing feature of tuberculosis changes is their dynamics during chemotherapy. Sometimes with silicotuberculosis, the leading clinical sign may be increasing respiratory failure. The course of treatment for patients with silicotuberculosis is longer than usual.

In the United States, patients with silicosis who have positive tuberculin tests receive isoniazid for prophylactic purposes, even if there is no other reason to prescribe tuberculostatic drugs. At the same time, chemoprophylaxis with isoniazid for silicosis has lower effectiveness than for other people.

IX. TUBERCULOSIS IN AIDS PATIENTS

Tuberculosis is one of the main opportunistic infections in HIV-infected individuals. In patients first infected M. tuberculosis, and then human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the risk of developing tuberculosis is 5-10% per year. If these infections develop in reverse chronological order, their combination is more dramatic: usually in more than 50% of HIV-infected people, tuberculosis occurs within a few months, immediately following the initial infection. According to data for 1997, in Ukraine the incidence of tuberculosis among HIV-infected people is almost 5 times higher than that among the general population.

Studies from the second half of the 90s indicate that in the United States, 3-4% of tuberculosis patients are HIV seropositive. In New York City, 42% of hospitalized men with tuberculosis were HIV seropositive, most of them injecting drug users. i.v. In Africa, tuberculosis is the single leading infection complicating AIDS; in Uganda, 66% of patients hospitalized for tuberculosis were HIV seropositive. In Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), autopsies of patients who died of AIDS revealed tuberculosis in 40% of cases. The likelihood of the impact of the HIV pandemic on the incidence of tuberculosis in regions with a high incidence of tuberculosis can hardly be exaggerated. The frequency of new cases of tuberculosis in some parts of Africa (Saharan region) by the end of the twentieth century it could reach 2000 per 100 thousand population.

HIV destroys lymphocytes and monocytes - the main defense cells that resist tuberculosis infection. Insufficiency of anti-tuberculosis immunity manifests itself early, before a significant decrease in the number of CD4 + T-lymphocytes. In HIV-infected individuals without clinical manifestations of AIDS, skin tuberculin sensitivity may be lost, although 2/3 of HIV-infected patients with tuberculosis have positive tuberculin tests. Although tuberculosis can develop during any phase of the course of HIV infection, people infected with M. tuberculosis, it is he who is ahead by 1-3 months. other AIDS-associated opportunistic infections. For HIV-seropositive tuberculosis patients, the typical CD4 + T-lymphocyte count ranges from 150 to 200 cells per ml, although significant individual variations are possible.

Before the advent of AIDS, more than 80% of tuberculosis cases were localized in the lungs. However, up to two thirds of HIV-infected tuberculosis patients have pulmonary and extrapulmonary involvement, or only extrapulmonary tuberculosis. Approximately half of AIDS patients have extrapulmonary forms with tuberculous lymphadenitis, predominantly of the anterior cervical lymph nodes. Among patients with AIDS and pulmonary tuberculosis, about half have an atypical radiological picture with diffuse tender pulmonary infiltrates, hilar adenopathy and hilar infiltration. Pleural effusion is a fairly common finding. Some AIDS patients with microbiologically proven presence of mycobacteria in the sputum may have a normal chest x-ray.

Other mycobacterioses are often diagnosed in AIDS patients. In the USA, approximately 50% of patients are diagnosed with a disseminated process caused by M. avium, developing in the later stages of AIDS. At the same time, in Africa (Saharan region) there were practically no cases of infection among AIDS patients. M. avium.

Alcohol has a detrimental effect on the human body, destroying cells and disrupting recovery processes. Toxic substances gradually destroy all systems and organs of a healthy person. Tuberculosis infection, entering the body, also provokes intoxication. What happens when the body fights tuberculosis infection and alcohol intoxication at the same time? The relationship between tuberculosis and alcoholism has extremely negative consequences for the body and the treatment of both pathologies is significantly complicated.

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This is a serious pathology that affects people all over the world, regardless of their social status, skin color and nationality.

Mycobacteria are highly resistant to chemical and physical factors. The gram-positive tuberculosis bacillus is not destroyed by acids, alkalis and alcohols. It is also resistant to ambient temperatures. Bacilli can remain in the human body for a long period without causing illness. But as soon as an irritant appears, they are activated and act, destroying healthy cells.

You can become infected with tuberculosis from an infected person or animal. With the flow of lymph, the rod enters the regional lymph nodes and blood, and then spreads throughout the body. The source of inflammation forms in the most vulnerable organ, most often in the lungs.

There are several routes of transmission of mycobacteria:

• aerogenic. One sneeze, cough or short conversation is enough for the stick to be transmitted to a healthy person with sputum or mucus;

• nutritional. Products of animal origin that are poorly cooked may contain Koch bacilli;
• contact: in close contact through the skin, mucous membranes, etc.

Poor living conditions, poor nutrition, tobacco smoking, drug addiction and abuse of alcoholic beverages contribute to the spread of infection.

The effect of alcohol on the disease

Alcohol aggravates and makes irreversible the processes associated with the development of tuberculosis. Under the influence of alcohol, redox processes are disrupted and the antitoxic functions of the liver are inhibited.

In order to determine whether tuberculosis and alcohol are compatible, scientists conducted a study on guinea pigs. After receiving a dose of alcohol, the animals became more susceptible to tuberculosis infection, and the life expectancy of the subjects was significantly reduced.

So, alcohol suppresses the body's protective functions. Drinking alcohol reduces the level of interferon, which is produced in response to a bacterial infection. Long-term and regular drinking reduces the chance of fighting the disease.

People suffering from alcohol addiction also develop vitamin deficiency. In the body, there is a disruption in the synthesis and metabolism of vitamins, such as thiamine, riboflavin, pyridoxine, folic acid, cyanocobalamin and others.

Alcohol vapor locally acts on the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract and lung tissue, burning and exfoliating the epithelium of the alveoli, bronchioles and bronchi. Such changes entail an inflammatory process (pneumonia) and lung abscess. These concomitant pathologies blur the signs of tuberculosis infection and make the course of the disease sluggish and latent. Also, due to prolonged use of alcohol, blood stagnation occurs.

Blood clots create pressure on the alveolar septa, and emphysema occurs. Due to alcohol toxicity, the excitability of sensory nerves decreases, which reduces the functionality of the central nervous system.

Is it possible to drink alcohol if you have tuberculosis?

The body weakened by the disease in a person with alcohol addiction, in addition to bacteria, must fight alcohol toxins. This additional load reduces immunity, forcing monocytes to work twice as hard. The probability of infection in this case increases to 85-90%.

It must be remembered that a small dose of alcohol can aggravate the patient’s situation. Alcohol, acting on the centers of the brain, increases breathing speed and destroys the elastic tissue of the lungs. A significant portion of alcohol causes neurogenic breathing disorders, and can also provoke a complete stop.

Therefore, to the question of whether it is possible to drink alcohol during tuberculosis, the answer is unequivocal - absolutely not, because alcohol favors the active course and complications of the disease.

Course of infection in patients with alcoholism

The nature and severity of the tuberculosis process is related to the degree of alcohol intoxication:

Features of treatment

In order to defeat the disease, alcohol is completely excluded when treating tuberculosis. Treatment occurs in several stages:

1. Detoxification course. Removing toxins from the body and introducing nutrients. Saline solutions (Ringer-Locke solution), B vitamins, piracetam 20%, magnesium sulfate 25% and glucose are prescribed.
2. Intensive therapy, consisting of regular use of special anti-tuberculosis drugs. These include: drugs GINK (Isoniazid, Ftivazid, Metazide, Salyuzide) and PASK. In parallel, antibiotic therapy (Cycloserine) is prescribed. If there is congenital immunodeficiency, then immunomodulators (Polyoxidonium, Lykopid) are prescribed.
3. Vitamin therapy (vitamin B6 in a dose of 0.025-0.05 g 2-3 times a day orally or 2-5 ml of a 5% solution intramuscularly). Other B vitamins (B2, B1, B12, B5, B3) are also prescribed. To increase immunity, take tocopherol 3-9 mg per day and retinol 5-30 mg per day.

Persons suffering from alcohol addiction usually avoid and categorically refuse medical help. Treatment occurs at an advanced stage and requires more time. The legislation allows in such cases to carry out compulsory treatment and administer drugs parenterally (intramuscularly, intravenously, subcutaneously).

Treatment difficulties are caused by the incompatibility of some drugs with alcohol. Therefore, treatment is carried out strictly according to the scheme given above.

Possible complications

In case of untimely treatment, a number of complications arise. Often, with alcoholism, the risk of complications increases significantly. Possible negative reactions:

Without proper treatment, all of the above conditions lead to the death of the patient in a short period of time.

Forecast

The prognosis depends on many circumstances, primarily on the duration of the disease and the degree of neglect of the tuberculosis process. The earlier the disease is detected and the most optimal treatment is chosen, the easier it is to cure it and prevent further relapses. If there is tissue necrosis with their disintegration and the formation of cavities, then the prognosis will be unfavorable.

It also depends on the size, degree and depth of the decay. If the processes are superficial, surgical treatment is possible - resection of the problem area of ​​the lung, after which there will be a successful recovery.

The prognosis will depend on the choice of treatment methods, the quality of medications and medical care. Recent studies have shown that 15% of people with alcohol dependence have a form of the disease that is difficult to treat. In other cases, the disease can be defeated using modern treatment methods. The psychological state during treatment is very important. Alcohol can influence and suppress a person’s mood and cause depressive disorders.

Age characteristics also affect the course and prognosis. The older the patient, the more difficult it is to choose the right therapy and optimal conditions for recovery.

It is important to fully listen to the recommendations of your doctor, take medications regularly, follow a diet and not overload yourself with physical work. Without treatment, the disease caused by mycobacteria is fatal. Therefore, if you experience a cough that occurs for no apparent reason, heavy sweating at night, weakness, significant weight loss, you cannot delay diagnosis and treatment.

During treatment, you should exclude any types of alcoholic beverages. Alcohol and tuberculosis treatment are incompatible. It should be remembered that relapse is possible if there is a provoking factor in the form of alcohol toxins. Quitting alcohol increases the chance of effective treatment several times.

Perelman M. I., Koryakin V. A.

Patients with tuberculosis suffering from alcoholism constitute the most socially and epidemiologically dangerous group of patients who are difficult to fully cure tuberculosis.

The frequency of tuberculosis among patients with chronic alcoholism, as well as alcoholism among patients with tuberculosis (especially with advanced ones), is significant.

At the same time, tuberculosis and chronic alcoholism mainly affect men aged 30-60 years. Tuberculosis also affects women who abuse alcohol.

More often, tuberculosis is associated with alcoholism; less often, patients with tuberculosis develop alcoholism. Patients with alcoholism are considered to be at high risk of developing tuberculosis.

Pathogenesis and pathological anatomy. The pathogenesis of tuberculosis in patients with alcoholism is not fully understood. Alcohol leads to damage to various organs and systems, including the immune system.

In the lungs, alcohol destroys the alveolar epithelium, causes the death of pulmonary macrophages, inflammatory infiltration of the walls of the bronchi and blood vessels, which leads to inhibition of local protective reactions against infections.

Long-term alcohol intoxication leads to metabolic disorders, degenerative and destructive changes in internal organs, and contributes to the progression of tuberculosis.

In addition, patients with chronic alcoholism are inadequate in assessing their health, usually ignore preventive examinations, lose control over their health due to withdrawal states, and seek help from a doctor late.

Tuberculosis in patients with alcoholism develops as a result of endogenous reactivation of post-tuberculosis changes, but, given antisocial behavior and non-compliance with sanitary standards, exogenous superinfection also plays a significant role in the development of tuberculosis.

In patients with alcoholism, forms of pulmonary tuberculosis of varying severity may be detected. However, more often than in other patients, fibrous-cavernous tuberculosis is detected, and in patients with stage III alcoholism - a polycavernous process, caseous pneumonia.

Symptoms. Patients with newly diagnosed tuberculosis often have no complaints. With progressive tuberculosis, high body temperature, symptoms of intoxication, cough with sputum, and shortness of breath are noted.

The nature of the clinical picture of the disease is influenced by diseases of the cardiovascular system and gastrointestinal tract that accompany alcoholism.

Chronic alcoholism, when complicated by tuberculosis, often acquires a malignant course with the frequent development of alcoholic psychoses and prolonged drinking bouts, which aggravates the course of tuberculosis.

Diagnostics. It is based on the X-ray picture, which is essentially no different from that of tuberculosis patients who do not suffer from alcoholism, as well as on microbiological data, which almost always indicate the presence of bacterial excretion.

Treatment. In patients with alcoholism, treatment of tuberculosis is carried out using a complex of anti-tuberculosis and anti-alcohol drugs.

Patients suffering from alcoholism often violate the treatment regimen, so it is advisable to carry out chemotherapy using parenteral administration of drugs. In case of stage III alcoholism, drugs that affect the central nervous system are contraindicated.

Anti-tuberculosis treatment in a hospital should be intensive, provide for rapid sputum negativity and closure of the decay cavity, after which the final treatment is continued on an outpatient basis.

Considering the great epidemic danger of patients with tuberculosis and alcoholism, as well as the insufficiently high effectiveness of chemotherapy, the indications for surgical treatment of such patients should be expanded, and the duration of preoperative chemotherapy should be reduced.