Rare! Bathing can cause illness. What is "bird" disease?

Recently, Ms. Wang from Liuyang, Changsha, Hunan, never thought that she would contract "bird" disease due to taking a bath. She has been tormenting herself for 3 years and was only recently diagnosed at the Hunan Provincial Chest Hospital.

In daily life, many people think that showering is more hygienic than bathing in a bathtub. However, they do not know that there is an infectious bacterium shared by humans and animals - avian intracellular Mycobacterium complex, which parasitizes on the shower head in the bathroom. Once infected, it will damage multiple tissues and organs such as the lungs, bone marrow, and lymph nodes.

Li Qian, deputy director and deputy chief physician of the Second Internal Medicine Department of Hunan Chest Hospital, said that Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare is an environmental saprophytic bacterium and a non-tuberculous mycobacterium. It is usually carried in the environment of birds and is mainly transmitted through the respiratory tract. It can also cause acute or chronic infection through skin wounds, digestive tract, damaged skin and mucous membranes, and can also parasitize on bathroom shower heads, causing infection.

According to the patient's own statement, she had no history of contact with poultry and no other bad habits. Based on her description of her own situation, it was finally considered that the bacteria may have come with the water flow and accumulated in the shower head, causing infection. Because people do not pay attention to the cleaning of shower heads on a daily basis, the content of avian Mycobacterium in the shower head is many times higher than that in tap water. It is recommended that everyone clean the shower head regularly and disinfect it regularly.

"Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare and Mycobacterium tuberculosis both belong to the mycobacterium family," said Li Qian. In the mycobacterium family, except for Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium leprae, the rest are collectively referred to as non-tuberculous mycobacteria. Non-tuberculous mycobacteria are widely distributed in nature and can be found in soil, dust, vegetation, swamps, milk, human skin, and human and animal feces.

Currently, more than 200 different subspecies have been discovered, which can invade the human lungs, lymph nodes, skin or bone joints, causing corresponding organ lesions.

When avian intracellular mycobacterium invades human cells, it will grow and multiply inside the cells, causing cell damage and related clinical symptoms. Patients may experience symptoms such as cough, sputum, chest tightness, chest pain, fever, fatigue, lymphadenopathy, joint pain, etc. Similar to pulmonary tuberculosis, the common site of occurrence of avian intracellular mycobacterium is also the lungs, and it often has clinical manifestations similar to pulmonary tuberculosis, such as repeated coughing, sputum, hemoptysis, etc. However, the onset of non-tuberculous mycobacterium disease is more hidden, lacks specific imaging manifestations, and the pathological changes are almost the same as tuberculosis. It is very easy to be missed or misdiagnosed, and it is more difficult to treat.

Li Qian reminded that for patients with repeated cough, sputum, hemoptysis and other symptoms, and a history of underlying lung diseases such as bronchiectasis and chronic bronchitis, it is necessary to be alert to the possibility of concurrent non-tuberculous mycobacterium infection. **Once diagnosed with non-tuberculous mycobacterium disease, it is necessary to go to a regular medical institution for treatment and receive regular and reasonable drug treatment. Do not adjust the treatment drugs without authorization, which may cause the disease to prolong.

Source: People's Daily Online Science and Technology Comprehensive New Evening News, Sanxiang Metropolis Daily