Scientists in India have claimed a link between diabetes and tuberculosis (TB) – with people suffering from TB being at a higher risk of developing diabetes, but that diabetics were also found to be more likely to develop TB.
The MV Hospital for Diabetes in Chennai, which carried out the study, showed that almost a quarter of TB patients that were enrolled under a revised national TB control programme in urba, semi-urban and rural parts of Tamil Nadu also had diabetes.
It was also claimed that there is a high prevalence of diabetes in TB patients living in Kerala, prompting government officials to launch a bi-direction study across the two states in which doctors will provide screening for diabetics for the presence of TB and in TB patients for diabetes. In Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, the MV Hospital for Diabetes as well the Sri Ramachandra University, will be involved in the programme.
Gojka Roglic, from the World Health Organisation’s department of chronic diseases and health promotio, commented “Diabetes is a silent killer. More deaths occur due to diabetes than HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.” India has the second largest number of diabetes patients in the world with 61.3 million, after China, with an estimated 90 million.

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