Guide To The Causes Of Swollen Lymph Nodes

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is incredibly infectious. This disease is the result of bacteria. In most cases, it is the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria. Tuberculosis mainly affects the lungs, though it can also affect other parts of an individual's body. Many patients have latent tuberculosis. This means that they are infected, though they do not display symptoms. In many instances, their condition can remain dormant for years before it becomes active tuberculosis. When it is active, there are many symptoms of tuberculosis. Many patients experience respiratory symptoms, such as coughing up phlegm or blood. Other warning signs are night sweats, appetite loss, unexplained fatigue, and fever. Of course, tuberculosis often causes lymph nodes to swell. The lymph nodes that do swell depend on the exact location of the patient's infection.

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Common Cold Or Flu

Many individuals will have swollen lymph nodes due to the common cold or flu. Both of these illnesses are quite common. In fact, most healthy adults deal with the common cold two to three times in one year. Children have more than this. The flu does not occur this often for each individual, though the United States sees millions of cases of the flu annually.

The common cold and flu share a few symptoms, including congestion, sore throat, and sneezing. Patients often have swollen lymph nodes in their neck in both illnesses. However, there are some differences. First, symptoms of the flu tend to be more severe than cold symptoms. In addition, some flu symptoms are quite rare in the common cold. Examples of these include fever, chills, and headaches.

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