The review presents data from 55 publications about specific parameters of iron metabolism in the human body including those ill with tuberculosis. It describes processes aimed at isolating iron from pathogens and promoting the acquisition of iron by pathogens from the host. A decrease in the level of iron circulating in the blood serum in the case of tuberculosis is primarily a component of the systemic inflammatory response and belongs to the mechanisms of innate immunity that limit the reproduction of an infectious agent in the human body. However, its true deficiency can be involved in the decrease in the level of circulating iron.