A new study published in the journal Eye highlights the epidemiology of ocular tuberculosis (TB) in the UK.
Researchers prospectively determined new cases of ocular tuberculosis in UK hospitals between October 2016 and November 2017 with the assistance of the British Ophthalmological Surveillance Unit.
Ocular TB remains a rare condition in the UK, with an overall incidence of 0.73 per million population per annum. Seventy-one per cent of the patients diagnosed with ocular TB had a non-UK origin of birth. The initial diagnosis of TB was done by an ophthalmologist for 87.5 per cent of patients. The most common first-line treatment regimen was isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol and pyrazinamide (71% of patients), and 60 per cent of patients were started on a reducing course of oral steroids.
Eighty-three per cent of patients achieved complete resolution of active clinical signs at 12 months of follow-up. A mean visual improvement of 0.1 LogMAR unit, equivalent to a gain of one line in Snellen visual acuity, was observed at 12 months of follow-up.
The authors commented: "Increasing recognition of high-risk groups such immigrants from endemic regions and accessibility to gamma-interferon testing should enable earlier detection of this condition."
