[Smoking and active tuberculosis]

Abstract

The link between tuberculosis and HIV infection has long been established but the link between tuberculosis and smoking is not well understood. However, many patients with tuberculosis are smokers and an increasing proportion of them live in developing countries where there is a high incidence of the disease. Smoking increases the risk of tuberculosis and of subsequent death from the disease. Henceforth, smoking cessation will become a way of controlling the tuberculosis epidemic in developing nations. This evidence must be used to mobilize an international effort to deal with these two major public health issues.