Impact of Vitamin D Supplementation on Host Immunity to Mycobacterium Tuberculosis and Response to Treatment

Tuberculosis bacterium (TB) is a germ that can infect any part of the human body, especially the lungs. Vitamin D is a hormone present in humans that regulates blood electrolytes such as calcium and phosphate. There is new information that links vitamin D to the functioning of our immune system. The purpose of the study is to find out how vitamin D affects the immune system of patients with TB. We want to find out if correcting low vitamin D levels, in addition to getting standard therapy for TB, will help the immune system fight off TB infection more effectively. The study will be done at the Georgia National Center for Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (NCTBLD) in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia. 220 patients with tuberculosis and 80 family members or household contacts of patients with tuberculosis will be participating in this study. TB patients, already receiving standard TB therapy, will be randomly assigned to either receive the Vitamin D pill or a placebo for a total of sixteen weeks. Neither the subject nor the investigator will know whether the subject has received the Vitamin D or the inactive placebo.The subject will orally consume the Vitamin D/placebo tablet 3 times a week for the 1st 8 weeks (while in hospital) and then once every other week for the last 8 weeks( during out-patient visits to the hospital). The main study hypothesis is that Vitamin D supplementation helps patients with tuberculosis, who are on standard anti TB antibiotic therapy, get better faster.