Diabetes triples risk of TB

Diabetes triples the risk that a person will develop tuberculosis, claimed a new report by the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) and the World Diabetes Foundation. The report that screened TB patients in a South Asian country for diabetes mellitus (DM) showed significantly higher rates of diabetes among TB patients than the general population and cautions against a co-epidemic of TB and diabetes. The report 'The Looming Co-epidemic of TB-Diabetes: A Call to Action' was launched at a session of a five-day long conference titled, 'The 45th Union World Conference on Lung Health' that is being held in Barcelona, Spain since October 28. The five-day conference will end on Saturday (November 1), said a press release. 'Diabetes is skyrocketing globally, projected to increase from 382 million cases in 2013 to 592m cases in 2035,’ the report said. According to World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2010, 'TB is an infectious disease of the lungs, affects 9.4m people and kills 1.7m worldwide every year.’ The IEDCR Director Mahmudur Rahman said ‘Tuberculosis Prevalence Survey will be started soon in Bangladesh with the support of WHO to present a fresh TB affected patients percentage. According to National Tuberculosis Control Project (NPT), ‘TB is a serious public health problem here. About 225 people (per 0.10m population) are affected by TB each year and 45 people of them die of TB each year. A total of 169,654 people were diagnosed as TB patients last year in the country.’