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HIV exacerbates TB burden

    JOHANNESBURG

    HIV/AIDS is adding to South Africa's tuberculosis (TB) burden, with a high proportion of infected people also being co-infected with HIV, medical experts said ahead of World TB Day on Friday.

    About 185,000 new cases of TB were diagnosed in 2003, but this figure rose by a massive 9,000 cases in a single year, with 279,000 new cases recorded in 2004.

    Dr Lindiwe Mvusi, national TB manager in the health department, believed the keys to successful treatment were to ensure that TB cases were detected early and patients completed their course of medication.

    However, Mvusi told the local Star newspaper that problems could arise when treating co-infected people.

    "TB is missed or diagnosed late in people who are HIV-positive, mainly because of the depressed immune system ... you need to be careful because, once they develop side effects, you wouldn't know which drug is causing what," she noted.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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