New studies from Eastern and Southern Africa add to  mounting evidence that anti-retroviral therapy (ART) has a profound impact on reducing opportunistic infections, and that decentralised and integrated TB and HIV care increases use of services and ART uptake, thus bettering overall patient outcomes.

Increasing the daily dose of rifampicin within the current TB treatment regimen from 10mg/kg to 15mg/kg and 20mg/kg did not result in an increased incidence of adverse events, according to findings from the RIFATOX trial presented at the 44th World Conference on Lung Health in Paris earlier this month.

Results from a Phase III trial that attempted to shorten the treatment duration for drug-sensitive pulmonary TB from four to six months, by using gatifloxacin instead of ethambutol, showed that the shortened treatment duration was inferior when compared to the standard treatment course. Results from the OFLOTUB trial were presented earlier this month at the 44th World Conference on Lung Health in Paris.

Two young women are proving to the world that the most deadly strain of TB can be beaten.

A modest increase in taxes on alcohol and tobacco in countries seriously affected by HIV and TB could generate enough income to cover the costs of antiretroviral treatment, TB treatment and malaria treatment and prevention, as well as reducing the incidence of non-communicable diseases caused by alcohol and tobacco, according to modelling work presented at the 19^th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) in Washington DC.