TB complicates Aids treatment
By, SABC News, June 07, 2007
Scientists painted a bleak picture today of the combined risk of HIV/Aids and tuberculosis (TB) in South Africa. The third national Aids conference in Durban heard that new techniques are being developed to detect TB sooner, as many patients die before they receive treatment. Six out of 10 HIV positive patients are infected with the TB bacteria.
A patient can wait up to eight weeks for a sputum test result for TB. The long wait has put a strain on Aids treatment therapy. Many patients die during this time. There have been advances in other countries, but it is technology that will not be available in South Africa for a long time. In South Africa, multi-drug resistant TB (MDR TB) is on the increase, while the extreme form, XDR TB is leading to faster deaths.
About 250 000 South Africans are diagnosed with TB each year. The preventable and treatable disease, under control in most of the world, faces severe obstacles in Africa. The World Health Organisation warned today that it would take years before a TB vaccine or new TB drugs can be developed. Some experts advocated a combined treatment, which would require huge investment in African laboratories.
When it comes to a close tomorrow, the conference hopes to reach agreement on contentious issues of male circumcision, compulsory HIV testing and breast feeding.
HIV infections declining
Meanwhile, Manto Tshababalala-Msimang, the health minister, says there has been a statistically significant decrease in one of the key measures of HIV/Aids in South Africa. This follows the release of a health department report on the latest survey of HIV prevalence among pregnant women using public health facilities.
The report states that there has been a decline from 30.2% in 2005 to 29.1% last year.
It says this is the first evidence of a decline in the epidemic after several years of stable prevalence rates.
Source: http://www.sabcnews.com/south_africa/health/0,2172,150492,00.html
Scientists painted a bleak picture today of the combined risk of HIV/Aids and tuberculosis (TB) in South Africa. The third national Aids conference in Durban heard that new techniques are being developed to detect TB sooner, as many patients die before they receive treatment. Six out of 10 HIV positive patients are infected with the TB bacteria.
A patient can wait up to eight weeks for a sputum test result for TB. The long wait has put a strain on Aids treatment therapy. Many patients die during this time. There have been advances in other countries, but it is technology that will not be available in South Africa for a long time. In South Africa, multi-drug resistant TB (MDR TB) is on the increase, while the extreme form, XDR TB is leading to faster deaths.
About 250 000 South Africans are diagnosed with TB each year. The preventable and treatable disease, under control in most of the world, faces severe obstacles in Africa. The World Health Organisation warned today that it would take years before a TB vaccine or new TB drugs can be developed. Some experts advocated a combined treatment, which would require huge investment in African laboratories.
When it comes to a close tomorrow, the conference hopes to reach agreement on contentious issues of male circumcision, compulsory HIV testing and breast feeding.
HIV infections declining
Meanwhile, Manto Tshababalala-Msimang, the health minister, says there has been a statistically significant decrease in one of the key measures of HIV/Aids in South Africa. This follows the release of a health department report on the latest survey of HIV prevalence among pregnant women using public health facilities.
The report states that there has been a decline from 30.2% in 2005 to 29.1% last year.
It says this is the first evidence of a decline in the epidemic after several years of stable prevalence rates.
Source: http://www.sabcnews.com/south_africa/health/0,2172,150492,00.html
posted by AIDS-Care-Watch at 10:42 am
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