title: Tuberculosis in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: Spain's situation.
abstract: There has recently been an increase in the incidence of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) due mainly to earlier diagnosis, and increased survival. Tuberculosis in our country is one of the most prevalent infectious diseases, and one of the underlying causes would be HIV infection and increased immigration from areas with high tuberculosis prevalence; this phenomenon is truly important in patients with autoimmune diseases, as clinical presentation, severity and prognosis of tuberculosis are often different to that of immunocompetent patients. Studies of tuberculosis in patients with SLE are scarce and inconclusive, with many doubts existing about the performance or non-tuberculous prophylaxis in this population and the absence of a protocol due to lack of conclusive studies. New techniques for diagnosis of tuberculosis (IGRAs) may be useful in this population due to higher sensitivity than Mantoux, helping avoid false negatives.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves, Granada, España. Electronic address: mmararenas@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: María del Mar
authors.initials: Mdel M
authors.lastname: Arenas Miras
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hidalgo Tenorio
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jimenez Alonso
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000150:complications*; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*
keywords: Human immunodeficiency virus infection; Infección por el virus de la inmunodeficiencia humana; Lupus eritematoso sistémico; Systemic lupus erythematosus; Tuberculosis