May 16, 2007 - According to researchers, just a single dose of 2.5mg vitamin D for six weeks or more is sufficient to boost the immune system to fight TB and similar bacteria. Though Sunlight is the main source of vitamin D, a diet of oily fish can also provide some of what is required.

In March, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) issued figures showing that cases of TB are on the rise as PA News.

Between 2005 and 2006, TB rose by 2% to over 8,000 new cases in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. London had the highest proportion of cases (42%), owing to its higher migrant population and number of at-risk groups, including the homeless and those with a history of drug abuse.

Most cases of TB in London arise from people in whom the bacteria has laid latent for some time, experts say. This means they have been infected with TB at some point but do not currently have an active TB infection.

The study, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, found that a single 2.5mg dose of vitamin D may be enough to boost the immune system to fight TB and similar bacteria for at least six weeks.

Researchers from Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry and the Wellcome Trust Centre for Research in Clinical Tropical Medicine at Imperial College London studied around 200 patients who had been exposed to TB.

Around two-thirds had latent TB while the rest had been exposed to TB but had not become infected. The patients, from London, were in high-risk groups and included migrants and the elderly. The researchers found that more than 90% of the patients were suffering from a vitamin D deficiency but that a supplement helped the body fight infection by mycobacteria, the family of bacteria that includes TB.

The supplement was found to stop reactivation of latent TB in those sufferers.
Dr Adrian Martineau from Imperial College London, who co-ordinated the study, said: "We found that a single large dose of vitamin D was sufficient to enhance a person's immunity to the bacteria.

This is very significant given the high levels of vitamin D deficiency in people at the highest risk of TB infection, and shows that a simple, cheap supplement could make a significant impact on the health of people most at risk from the disease."
 
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/society/health/vitamin+d+dose+could+ward+off+tb/510462

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