Diabetes and TB

Both diabetes and tubeculosis (TB) are global health problems though diabetes as a risk factor for TB receives little attention. As Moore-Gillon discusses in his editorial to the paper by Walker and Unwin, the number of cases of TB continues to rise and co-existing conditions such a diabetes may play a part in progression of infection or reactivation. Walker and Unwin have estimated the proportion of incident cases of pulmonary TB attributable to diabetes in different ethnic groups in England. The results show that around 11% of cases of TB may be attributable to diabetes and over half will be in people of Asian origin. In black and white subjects 8% of cases of TB were attributable to diabetes. Moore-Gillon warns that we …