Tuberculosis and HIV: time for an intensified response.

摘要

Tuberculosis is a leading cause of death in people with HIV infection, accounting for more than a quarter of the 2 million AIDS deaths in 2008. HIV has exacerbated the tuberculosis epidemic globally and especially in Africa-in some sub-Saharan African countries, up to 70% of people with tuberculosis are also HIV positive. People with HIV infection also now face the worsening problem of multi-drug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis. Despite remarkable progress in the individual fields of tuberculosis and HIV programming, the gravity and relative neglect of the tuberculosis/HIV crisis deserves further attention. Between 1995 and 2008, the directly observed therapy, short course (DOTS) strategy enabled treatment of 43 million patients with tuberculosis.