Mycobacterial Ocular Inflammation

Abstract

According to estimates, one-third of the world's population is currently infected with tuberculosis (TB), with 8.7 million new cases and 1.4 million deaths reported in 2011.¹ A total of 10 528 cases were reported in the United States in 2011, with approximately 30% presenting with extrapulmonary manifestations.² Despite the high prevalence of systemic disease, ocular disease secondary to TB remains much less common. A review of more than 10 000 TB cases from sanatoria between 1940 and 1966 revealed that only 1.5% had ocular involvement.³ Biswas and Badrinath⁴ reported ocular morbidity in only 1.39% of 1005 patients with active pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB in southern India.