Silicotuberculosis

**Silicotuberculosis** is a chronic infectious disease caused by specific microbial forms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It is characterized by a specific inflammation of the lung tissue and/or lymph nodes with a tendency to progress and, as a rule, leads to the onset of generalized forms of the tuberculosis process.

According to its pathogenesis, silicotuberculosis infection belongs to the secondary forms of tuberculosis infection. Silicotuberculosis is characterized by focal lesions with bacterial excretion in 50% of cases. A distinctive feature of the causative agent of silicotuberculosis is the ability of their microscopic identification by microscopy of finished preparations obtained from shadow and transparent morphological structures.

The causative agent of this form of tuberculosis is acid-fast micrococci, which are revealed in thin sections when cleared with aniline dye preparations. Treatment of patients with silicotuberculosis is carried out with an anti-tuberculosis complex, taking into account the phase of development of the process according to the method of M. I. Perelman, M. A. Snigur, combination chemotherapy with reserve drugs (ethambutol, capreomycin, pyrazinamide), and other groups of drugs is used. A second course of chemotherapy is usually carried out 3–4 weeks after the process has stabilized. In the event of the addition of mycobacterial forms resistant to the action of anti-tuberculosis drugs or the appearance of complications, the chemotherapeutic complex is expanded with appropriate means. Thus, modern anti-tuberculosis therapy is based on an optimal combination of reliable specific, pathogenetically substantiated and effective drugs and recognized therapeutic and diagnostic methods for the comprehensive study of tuberculosis patients.