TB rate falling in heterosexuals with HIV in England and Wales
Tuberculosis incidence (the new-diagnosis rate) fell sharply from 2002 through 2010 among HIV-positive heterosexual adults in England and Wales, most of them black Africans. But the 2010 rate remained significantly higher than in the general population.
TB remains a frequent and serious complication of HIV infection in many parts of the world. To assess changes in TB incidence among heterosexuals diagnosed with HIV in England and Wales from 2002 through 2010, researchers analyzed comprehensive national records of people in HIV care. They linked those findings to national tuberculosis databases for 1999 through 2010.
Throughout the 2002-2010 study period, 4266 of 45,322 HIV-positive heterosexuals (9.4%) got diagnosed with TB. Most of them, 92%, were diagnosed at the time of or after their HIV diagnosis, and most (84%) were black Africans.
Annual TB incidence dwindled from 30 per 1000 people in 2002 to 8.8 per 1000 in 2010, a highly significant drop (P < 0.01). In 2010 annual TB incidence was significantly higher in people not on antiretroviral therapy than in treated people (36 versus 3 per 1000 people, P < 0.01).
Although TB incidence fell sharply over the study period, the authors note that the 2010 rate remained significantly higher than in the general population. They believe their findings “support routine HIV testing in tuberculosis clinics, screening for latent tuberculosis in HIV diagnosed persons, and the prompt initiation of ART where appropriate.”
Source: Brian Rice, Jonathan Elford, Zheng Yin, Michelle Kruijshaar, Ibrahim Abubakar, Marc Lipman, Anton Pozniak, Meaghan Kall, Valerie Delpech. Decreasing incidence of tuberculosis among heterosexuals living with diagnosed HIV in England and Wales. AIDS. 2013; 27: 1151-1157.
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Source: IAS
