TUBERCULOSIS IN PATIENTS ON REGULAR HEMODIALYSIS

Tuberculosis represents 0.5-1% of all causes of death in patients on regular haemodialyis treatment but, curiously, its real incidence up to now has not been reported by the EDTA Registry. Of course, sporadic cases of tuberculosis have been reported by some authors, but as there is propensity of tuberculosis to develop in the immunosuppressed patient, it is surprising that the association of tuberculosis and renal failure has only infrequently been reported. In fact, there are authors who do not support the suggestion that patients receiving haemodialysis show an increased incidence of tuberculosis. Increased frequency of the disease which sometimes takes the form of a small epidemic has been reported recently by dialysis centres of Greece, Hawaii, Japan, England and USA. The authors give a survey of the clinical picture of tuberculosis in dialysis patients and make some suggestions for medical treatment.