DRG Category: 177

Mean LOS: 8.9 days

Description MEDICAL: Respiratory Infections and Inflammations with Major CC

classification section:



Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, an aerobic acid-fast bacillus. Although it is most frequently a pulmonary disease, more than 15% of patients experience extrapulmonary TB that can infect the meninges, kidneys, bones, or other tissues. Pulmonary TB can range from a small infection of bronchopneumonia to diffuse, intense inflammation, necrosis, pleural effusion, and extensive fibrosis.

Although TB was thought to be preventable and treatable, the number of cases increased during the late 1980s. In 1990, more than 25,000 cases were reported in the United States, which was a 10% increase from the previous year. The increase was thought to be due to a high infection rate in patients with the HIV and patients who were exposed to others hospitalized with TB, as well as a new strain of the disease that is resistant to traditional drugs such as isoniazid (INH) and rifampin. Between 1993 and 2003, the incidence of TB decreased by 40% to 45% in the United States due to intensive public health efforts to prevent and control the disease.