According to a South African study, taking antiretroviral (ARV, ART) drugs and tuberculosis (TB) treatment at the same time decreases death rates when compared with delaying HIV treatment until after TB treatment is completed, aidsmap.com reports.
Researchers designed a trial to identify the optimal time to start HIV treatment in TB patients. Participants received a once-daily antiretroviral regimen of ddI/3TC and efavirenz at one of three time points during their course of TB therapy.
As a result, researchers found 26 patients died (mortality rate of 11.6 per 100 person-years) in the group that took the HIV medicine months after TB therapy compared with 24 patients (mortality rate of 5.1 per 100 person-years) who had both treatments concurrently.
“A rough estimate is that implementation of integrated TB and HIV treatment in South Africa could lead to an additional 100,000 to 150,000 patients (with TB and CD4 < 500) being initiated with ART and thereby prevent about 10,000 deaths each year by the earlier initiation of ART,” states a spokesperson for OR a press release issued by the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa.
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