A study of African immigrants found that those with low levels of vitamin D were far more likely to be infected with tuberculosis than those with adequate levels, said Melbourne-based researchers.
From 2003 to 2006, Dr. Katherine Gibney of the Royal Melbourne Hospital and colleagues tested everyone from sub-Saharan Africa who was treated at the facility - a total of 375 immigrants. Moderate to severe vitamin D deficiency was found in 78 percent of those patients with past or present TB.
While previous studies have found that people with vitamin D deficiencies are more likely to have active TB, the researchers said this study is the first to show this is true of latent TB as well.
"Low vitamin D levels are associated with an increased likelihood of primary infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and also, once infected, are associated with increased likelihood of having active TB," said Gibney.
Vitamin D is made when sunlight hits the skin, and food is often supplemented with it. TB affects up to one-third of the world's population, though most cases are latent, meaning patients are infected but do not have symptoms and are unlikely to infect others.
The researchers suggested that doctors consider vitamin D supplements as a treatment for TB.
The study, "Vitamin D Deficiency Is Associated with Tuberculosis and Latent Tuberculosis Infection in Immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa," was published in Clinical Infectious Diseases (2008;46(3):443-446).
01/28/08
AUSTRALIA: Vitamin D May Help Fight Tuberculosis, Study Finds
Source: Reuters:: Maggie Fox; Courtesy of the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention