TB smoking toll 'could reach 40m'

Smokers are about twice as likely to get the lung infection and die from it, compared with non-smokers.

Many of the new TB cases will be in Africa, the eastern Mediterranean and Southeast Asian regions, according to projections published in the BMJ.

A lung charity said global efforts to fight TB are being undermined by the tobacco industry's "aggressive promotion" of smoking in some places.

Dr John Moore-Gillon is a TB specialist and honorary medical advisor for the British Lung Foundation.

He said: "It is nearly 20 years since the World Health Organization declared tuberculosis to be a 'global health emergency'.

"Since that time rates have risen rather than fallen, and smoking increases the risk of getting - and dying from - TB.

"Concerted international efforts are now under way to try and turn the tide of TB, but this important research shows that all these efforts may be undermined by the tobacco industry's continuing aggressive promotion of smoking in many parts of the world."

Mathematical model

Nearly a fifth of people in the world are smokers; many in countries with high rates of TB where multi-national tobacco companies have expanded their markets.

Smoking is a known risk factor for TB, and may reduce the ability of the lungs to fight off infection.

Dr Sanjay Basu and colleagues from the University of California set out to predict the impact of smoking on future TB rates.

According to their mathematical model, worldwide smoking could lead to 40 million extra deaths from TB from 2010 to 2050; Kazinform cites BBC.

To learn more go to www.bbc.co.uk