A study conducted in South Africa suggests there is an association between passive smoking and increased risk of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in children living in a home with a tuberculosis patient.
"Tuberculosis and smoking are both significant public health problems," Dr Saskia den Boon, of KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation, The Hague, Netherlands, and colleagues write in the April issue of Pediatrics.
The possible association between passive smoking and TB infection in children "is a cause of great concern, considering the high prevalence of smoking and tuberculosis in most developing countries." The team conducted a community survey that included 15 percent of the addresses in two adjacent low- to middle-income suburbs in Cape Town. All of the children received a tuberculin skin test, with M. tuberculosis infection defined as a reaction of at least 10 mm.
The team defined passive smoking as living in a home with at least one adult who smoked for at least 1 year. "Passive smoking might affect the immune system of the child, thus increasing the risk of getting infected," den Boon and colleagues suggest. Tobacco smoke exposure alters cell function, such as lowering the rate of clearance of inhaled substances and abnormal permeability of cells and blood vessels.
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