Ulcerative Colitis

Impaired digestion and absorption due to liver or pancreatic damage, also play a role in heavy drinkers.

4) Smoking and chronic lung damage There is a clear association between smoking and reduced local immunity within the lungs.

In smokers, the mucous membranes of the lungs are damaged and inflamed, and the hair cells paralysed.

This effect of smoking leaves the lungs vulnerable to infection, including TB.

In addition to the fact that the TB bacteria are not efficiently removed after inhalation, chronic lung damage impairs the lung immunity and may increase susceptibility to TB.

This is clearly illustrated by the association between silicosis and TB in mine workers, says Marais.

But smoking has an extra sting in its tail.

“Several studies have confirmed that smokers have a worse prognosis if they do get TB,” he says.

5) Genetic susceptibility University of Stellenbosch researchers have recently linked a gene that influences interferon-gamma function to the vulnerability to develop TB.

This study was published in The Lancet in 2003.

Although none of us can change the genes that we were born with, it illustrates that all of us should do our utmost to influenc...

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