Genital Tuberculosis: Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

There are two main ways this infection can spread:

• 1. From a primary infection: In some cases, people with existing tuberculosis in their lungs or other organs can develop genital TB when the bacteria travels through the bloodstream or lymphatic system and establishes itself in the reproductive organs.
• 2. Sexual transmission: Genital TB can also be transmitted through sexual contact with someone who has an active genital TB infection. This can happen through contact with infected skin lesions or bodily fluids during sexual activity.

Here are some symptoms of genital tuberculosis.

• Among the genital organs in females, the fallopian tubes are most commonly affected followed by uterus, ovaries, cervix and vagina. The bacteria can damage the tubes leading to fluid collection in the tubes. If the ovaries are involved with tubes, it may form a mass which looks like and can be easily confused with a tumour. Damage to the tubes leads to infertility and predispose to ectopic pregnancies.
• Involvement of uterus may damage the lining of the uterus leading to scanty menstrual flow, painful menstruation and in severe cases formation of adhesions leading to infertility.
• When the vagina or external skin is involved, the skin may well, turn red and hurt. Patient may experience pain while passing urine or having sex. You can get a vaginal ulcer, which is a hard, sore spot with rough edges and a red base. Ulcers usually don’t hurt unless bacteria or fungus get into them and make them hurt. They usually heal slowly over a few weeks if you don’t treat them, but it could take months if you don’t treat them at all.
• In men, involvement of the urinary system may cause difficulty passing urine and sometime retention of urine if the urine pipe is blocked. If there is damage to the genital system, the outlet of sperms may be blocked leading to infertility. In some cases, men might experience swelling in the lymph nodes around the groin area.

Genital tuberculosis treatment can be difficult because of the seriousness of the symptoms. It can be difficult to detect the disease early. Genital tuberculosis treatment includes medications and surgical removal of infected tissue. Surgery is done only in select cases where there is the organ affected is scarred and the normal function of the organ is hampered. Treatment for genital TB often lasts six months and involves multiple oral drugs. In some resistant cases, injections may be required. As the TB bacteria can become dormant in your body and cause reinfection anytime your immunity is weak, it is prudent to finish the entire course of medicines prescribed by the doctor.

Immunity has a big role to play in keeping this bacterium in check. So consuming healthy nutritious diet is paramount. Losing weight by following unhealthy weight loss regimens is strongly discouraged.