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TB in Africa predicted to double over next decade

Last Updated: 2001-04-23 16:48:56 EDT (Reuters Health)

WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) - The number of tuberculosis cases in Africa is increasing by 10% per year in Africa because of the HIV epidemic, according to a joint statement by the World Health Organization (WHO)/United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Without effective control strategies, the number of cases will likely double over the next 10 years.

Data presented at the Organization of African Unity Summit on HIV/AIDS, TB and Other Infectious Diseases, in Abuja, Nigeria, show that nearly 2 million new cases of TB were identified in Africa in 1999. Approximately two out of every three TB-infected individuals there are also infected with HIV.

Increased implementation of direct observation of treatment--short course (DOTS) will be key for organizing a health infracture for treating both TB and HIV, according to UNAIDS, WHO, and Stop TB, a global movement to stop the spread of TB around the world. The Stop TB global partnership is sponsored by WHO.

"Where the DOTS strategy is not in place or not functioning, there is no chance to deliver long-term [antiretroviral] therapy to patients," Stop TB asserts in a briefing note presented at the summit.

Stop TB is focusing on high-burden countries. The organization notes on its Web site (www.stoptb.org) the progress made in these countries. For example, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in South Africa, the DOTS strategy has been expanded to two thirds of the population. DOTS now covers the entire population in Kenya.

Many challenges remain, however, with securing TB drugs and laboratory reagents of primary importance. According to Stop TB, expanded use of preventive therapy is required to prevent TB in dually infected patients, as well as expanded use of antiretrovirals.

-Westport Newsroom 203 319 2700

 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 



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