HIV prevention

HIV and TB

There were half a million deaths among people with HIV because of tuberculosis (TB) in 2008, new figures show.

Worldwide, TB is the single most important cause of illness and death among people with HIV. Even in richer countries like the UK, TB is one of the most common AIDS-defining illnesses.

TB is a preventable and treatable illness, and people with HIV can be completely cured of TB with the right treatment and care.

It’s recommended that everybody who is diagnosed with TB should be tested for HIV. But the latest figures show that, around the world, this doesn’t usually happen.

And only a third of people with HIV diagnosed with TB are taking anti-HIV drugs. An even smaller number of patients are taking antibiotics to prevent active TB and other serious infections.

Mother-to-child HIV transmission

It’s possible to prevent HIV from being passed on from a mother to her baby.

The risk can be dramatically reduced by taking HIV treatment during pregnancy, having an appropriately managed birth, and not breastfeeding.

But a small number of infections still occur in the womb, and researchers wanted to find out what the risk factors for this were.

The study, conducted in Kenya, has shown that a low CD4 cell count and higher viral load were important risk factors. So too were shorter duration of HIV treatment during pregnancy, illness during pregnancy and bacterial vaginosis.

These illnesses included symptoms such as fever, cough and diarrhoea, which can be readily treated, as can bacterial vaginosis. The researchers therefore suggest that the risk of HIV transmission in the womb could be reduced by checking for and treating such diseases.