Updated CDC HIV and TB Fact Sheet

SUMMARY The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a revised fact sheet on tuberculosis in people with HIV.

Tuberculosis (TB) is common among HIV positive people, especially in resource-limited countries. It is the leading causes of mortality for people with HIV/AIDS worldwide, accounting for nearly 1 in 4 deaths.

TB bacteria can live in the body without causing symptomatic illness -- known as latent TB infection -- but can become active if the immune system is weakened. According to the CDC, HIV positive people with latent TB are 20 to 30 times more likely than HIV negative people to develop active TB disease.

TB is less common in the U.S., with about 4% of Americans (HIV positive and negative combined) -- or approximately 13 million people -- being infected. There were 554 deaths due to TB in 2007. But prevalence is unevenly distributed in the population, with blacks making up about 60% of HIV/TB coinfected people.

The CDC recommends that all people newly diagnosed with HIV should be tested for TB as soon as possible, and people living with HIV and at risk for TB exposure should be tested annually to detect latent infection.

People with active TB disease require a combination of medications for treatment, while people with latent infection can take less intensive regimens to prevent activation. The emergence of multi-drug resistant and extensively drug resistant bacteria, however, can compromise treatment effectiveness

The full revised HIV and TB fact sheet is available free online at www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/hivtb.htm.

6/28/11

Source
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention. HIV and TB. Fact sheet. Updated June 13, 2011.