Tuberculosis and diabetes

Abstract

There is no doubt that diabetics are more prone to suffer from pulmonary tuberculosis than non-diabetics. Most workers agree that tuberculosis takes a serious form in diabetics. It is also worth remembering that early diagnosis of the combination is rare. At the time of diagnosis a large majority of the cases have severe diabetes and far advanced pulmonary tuberculosis. The reason is that symptoms of the complicating disease are masked by the originally existing disease and that each condition causes excerbation of the other. The only way to make sure of the presence of this combination is to insist on a routine blood sugar screening test in tuberculosis patients of 40 and over and carry out sputum and x-ray examination in a diabetic once a year or on any occasion when cough persists for a month or so or if the insulin requirement suddenly goes up.