Pratheeba M, Hemapriya S, Aparna R, Naseem G Farzana
BACKGROUND Tuberculosis is a very common infectious disease, prevalent in our country caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and other members of TB complex. Roughly 60% of patients with extra-pulmonary tuberculosis have no evidence of pulmonary tuberculosis and when it manifests as uveitis, accurate diagnosis becomes increasingly difficult as biopsy samples are not easily available. MATERIALS AND METHODS A cross sectional prospective study was undertaken on 167 sputum positive pulmonary TB patients attending the Chest Medicine OPD. Study period was 2 years. RESULTS In our study 10 out of 167 patients had ocular manifestations. 6 were male patients and 4 were females. CONCLUSION Ocular screening in active pulmonary TB patients will eliminate the risk of preventable blindness. This can be made possible by adequate resources and trained ophthalmic personnel.
