Three quarters of South African patients with extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis died within 5 years of treatment, according to results of a 107-patient analysis in three South African provinces. Among people with HIV infection, taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) was independently associated with survival.

Almost 1 in 5 HIV-positive children in a 13-year Asian observational study had pulmonary tuberculosis. More than one third of pulmonary TB cases developed after antiretroviral therapy (ART) had begun.

Numbers of HIV-positive people who started antiretroviral therapy (ART) during treatment for tuberculosis rose 4- to 5-fold from 2006 to 2012 at two Uganda HIV clinic, reflecting new data and evolving guidelines. But many HIV-positive people with higher CD4 counts still did not start ART if they have TB, despite World Health Organization advice.

Isoniazid preventive therapy lowered the risk of tuberculosis more than 25% in a large cluster-randomized trial of HIV-positive people in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Isoniazid cut the risk of TB or death 30%.

Tuberculosis developed in an estimated 8.6 million people worldwide in 2012, according to a World Health Organization report. Of the 1.3 million people who died of TB, 320,000—or one quarter—had HIV infection.

Meta-analysis of 20 articles involving World Health Organization (WHO) group 5 drugs suggested that linezolid significantly increases the probability of favorable outcomes in people with extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB). Adding other group 5 drugs to linezolid had little impact in this analysis.

Having pulmonary tuberculosis raised the risk of all-cause mortality 37% in Ugandan adults starting ART in a prospectively studied cohort of 22,477 people.

A trial in which adults from four continents took standard-dose efavirenz with or without the anti-TB drug rifampin (rifampicin) found a trend toward higher efavirenz minimum concentrations (Cmin) with than without rifampin. The result does not support the US labeling recommendation to raise the dose of efavirenz from 600 to 800 mg daily in people taking rifampin and weighing 50 kg or more.

CYP2B6 genotype was a stronger predictor of efavirenz concentrations than rifampicin-based anti-TB therapy in South African children, according to results of a three-way comparison. The researchers believe their findings do not support higher efavirenz doses in children taking rifampicin.

Various testing approaches including chest x-ray and cough for at least 2 weeks lacked positive predictive value and specificity in determining which symptomatic but ambulatory HIV patients had pulmonary tuberculosis in Chennai and Pune, India.