NEW YORK — Researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston found that patients with diabetes are at higher risk of contracting tuberculosis, a deadly bacterial disease, than nondiabetics.
The study investigators discovered among 233 patients that were diagnosed with TB between March 2006 and March 2008 — which included 61 patients in southern Texas and 172 in northeastern Mexico — 25% of TB cases were attributed to the presence of diabetes, while 6% of TB cases were caused by HIV.