Respiratory diseases in pregnancy bullet 3: Tuberculosis in pregnancy and the puerperium

3 The cases of tuberculo- sis in all these ethnic minority groups have a very diVerent age distribution from those of UK origin, with a median age usually under 30 years compared with over 50 years in the white population. The increase in the number of patients with tuberculosis who become preg- nant is therefore due to the increasing pro- portion of women of child bearing age. Similar trends have been reported in the USA 45 and in most developed countries in Europe. In devel- oping countries the rise in tuberculosis is also predominantly aVecting the young, mainly the 15-44 age group, fuelled in sub-Saharan Africa by HIV co-infection. 6 This review considers aspects of tuberculosis in pregnancy and does not cover reduced fertility from genital tuber- culosis, although this is an important cause of infertility, especially in developing countries. 7