Diabetes Makes Children More Susceptible To TB
Children with type 1 diabetes are at an increased risk of developing tuberculosis, according to a new report.
Writing in the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases, Dr. E. A. Webb, from the Desmond Tutu Tuberculosis Center, Cape Town, South Africa, and colleagues found that almost one in three children with type 1 diabetes tested positive for TB, placing them and others around them at risk of being infected.
TB is present in billions of people worldwide, but it usually does not become active or infectious. But some 10 percent of those with dormant TB will eventually develop the contagious form of active TB.
Webb and his team studied 258 patients under the age of 21 years with type 1 diabetes in areas where rates of TB infections are highest.
They found that the rate of TB infection was 29.8 percent, while the active form of TB was found in 9 patients, or 3.48 percent, and 16 patients had been treated for TB prior to the study.
The rate of tuberculosis rose from 7.8 percent at 5 years to 12.5 percent at 10 years.
They noted that the rate of TB infections were more than 6.8 times larger in those with type 1 diabetes.
"Routine TB screening of children with type 1 diabetes may be indicated in settings highly endemic for TB," researchers wrote.
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