Alcoholics more likely to get TB

‘€œHeavy alcohol use is a risk factor for an impaired immune system and increases a person’€™s susceptibility to active TB infection and reactivation of latent disease,’€ Parry told the third South African TB conference yesterday.

Not only does alcohol weaken a person’€™s ability to fight TB, but it also ‘€œinfluences social mixing patterns’€, bringing the drinker into ‘€œbars and shebeens, shelters for homeless persons, prisons and other social institutions’€ where the risk of TB exposure is high, said Parry.

Russia has both high rates of alcohol consumption and high TB, and efforts to reduce drinking during president Mikhail Gorbachev’€™s era also reduced TB deaths, said Parry.

South Africans are also renowned for our alcohol consumption, and around half a million citizens are estimated to get TB every year.

South Africa has the third-worst burden of TB cases in the world after India and China.

Click here to view the conference presentations.

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  • healthe

    Health-e News is South Africa's dedicated health news service and home to OurHealth citizen journalism. Follow us on Twitter @HealtheNews

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