dbbm.fiocruz.br). The Mycobacterium tuberculosis is intercellular pathogens and for that reason require invasion of host cells to initiate disease. The epithelial cells take part on the initial stages of a mycobacterium infection. One of the examples mentioned was that ingested mycobacterium must first travel through the gut epithelium before systemic infection can be initiated .
"The family Mycobacteriaceae are Gram-positive, no motile, catalase-positive and have a rod like to filamentous morphology"(www.cehs.siu.edu). Mycobacterium tuberculosis is often known as an acid-fast stain. There is one type of stain one can use to identify the disease under a microscope. The type of stain someone can use is auramine, but it is viewed with fluorescence microscopy. Under a normal microscope a person can see bright rod like structures using the acid-fast stain of an infected lymph node.
Mechanism of Pathogenesis.
"Virulent strains of Mycobacterium have the capacity to disrupt phagosomal membranes of alveolar macrophages while the cord factors inactivate mitochondrial membranes of phagocytes"(www.cehs.siu.edu). This enables the organisms to survive and multiply in phagocytes. Once the disease is inhaled, it takes place in the bronchial tree landing on the respiratory epithelium and embeds itself in the alveolus beyond the mucociliary system. At this point the bacilli can replicate with no initial resistance from the host. The organisms are methodically absorbed by the macrophages with the possibility that they may remain viable and potentially produce life within the cells. A group of organs and tissues are particularly opposed to subsequent multiplication of these bacilli. According to the web site (aepo.cdc.gov) it states that:.
The bone marrow, liver, and spleen are always seeded with mycobacteria, but uncontrolled multiplication of the bacteria in these sites is exceptional. Organisms deposited in the upper lung zones, kidneys, bones and brain may find environments that favor their growth, and numerous bacterial divisions may occur before specific immunity develops and limits multiplication.