HIV, hepatitis B and C and TB can each be treated for less than $90 a year where generic drugs can be made available, Dzintars Gotham of Imperial College, London, reported at the 9^th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science in Paris.

A regimen of three oral drugs given for six months was enough to clear extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) in 29 of the first 31 people to have completed the treatment course, Dr Francesca Conradie of Sizwe Tropical Disease Hospital, Johannesburg, told the 2017 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI). If the results are replicated in a larger population, the findings could revolutionise the prospects for treating not just XDR-TB, but also the more severe cases of MDR-TB (multidrug-resistant tuberculosis).

A six-month course of isoniazid preventive treatment (IPT) at the beginning of the Temprano trial in Ivory Coast reduced the risk of death by 37% over a mean follow-up period of 4.5 years, Anani Badje reported at the 2017 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Seattle on Wednesday.

The costs of making drugs to treat viral hepatitis, HIV and TB are now so low that each disease could be treated for less than $90, Dr Andrew Hill of St Stephen’s AIDS Trust told the opening plenary of the International Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection in Glasgow on Sunday (October 23).

A package of enhanced prophylaxis against infections significantly reduced the risk of death in adults and children with advanced HIV disease after starting antiretroviral treatment in a randomised study, Professor James Hakim of the University of Zimbabwe told the 21st International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, last month.

Offering TB screening as part of a home-based HIV testing intervention has the potential to identify numerous TB cases that would otherwise have gone undiagnosed, a report from a large community-based study in Zambia shows. The findings, from the PopART study, were reported by Comfort Phiri of Zambart at the 2016 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Boston on Thursday (February 25).

People living with HIV, those who are underweight and those with more extensive drug resistance are more likely to die during treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), a nine-country study has found. The findings were presented at the 46^th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Cape Town last week.

The cost of newer drugs for the treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis could be cut by up to 95% if generic production of patented products could be achieved in the same way as for antiretroviral drugs.

People living with HIV in Eastern Europe who develop tuberculosis (TB) are four times more likely to die within a year when compared to similar patients in Western and Southern Europe or Latin America, a large international study presented on Thursday at the 15th European AIDS Conference in Barcelona has shown.

A daily three-month regimen of isoniazid and pyrazinamide is just as effective at preventing the development of active tuberculosis (TB) as a six-month course of isoniazid in people living with HIV, a Russian study has shown. The findings were presented by Dr Zinaida Zagdyn at the 15th European AIDS Conference in Barcelona on Thursday.