HIV associated tuberculosis

摘要

People who are infected with HIV are at an increased risk of contracting tuberculosis. The WHO estimates that just over 20 million people are currently infected with HIV and of these 6 million are co-infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Worldwide there has been a resurgence of tuberculosis, mainly in developing countries but also in the United States and Europe. Between 1987 and 1993 tuberculosis rates increased by 35.5% in London (with the increase most notable in inner London) compared with 15% in England and Wales as a whole. However, it is unclear to what extent the prevalence of HIV associated tuberculosis has increased in the capital, largely because notification of tuberculosis in the HIV infected population is unreliable and probably underestimates the problem. Nosocomial spread has occurred in several specialist HIV centres in Britain and elsewhere, and drug (and multidrug) resistance is a growing problem. Because of the shortened incubation period for tuberculosis, HIV infection highlights weaknesses in tuberculosis control programmes.