A study conducted in a cohort of hospitalized adults with HIV-associated tuberculosis (TB) in Khayelitsha found that having a detectable cytomegalovirus (CMV) viral load was associated with higher mortality within the first 12 weeks on TB treatment, according to Amy Ward from the University of Cape Town, who presented the findings at the 21st International AIDS Conference last month in Durban.

An intervention using community health workers -- who normally provide case management support for HIV-positive pregnant women and their families -- to also provide intensified tuberculosis (TB) case finding was associated with a dramatic 20-fold increase in TB detection at a very busy antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinic in rural Malawi, according to a study presented at the 21st International AIDS Conference last week in Durban.

More aggressive TB treatment using high dose of rifampicin, in addition to ARV treatment, could reduce TB/HIV mortality among co-infected TB/HIV patients with a severe immunocompromised state, according to Corinne Merle of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine who presented the results of the three-arm RAFA trial last week at the 21st International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2016) in Durban, South Africa.

While much of TB2016, held on the eve of the International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2016) from 16-17 July 2016 was devoted to the rapidly evolving science in the fight against TB, the meeting also highlighted the failure of the world, including the international HIV community, to adequately respond to the TB epidemic – which last year surpassed HIV as the leading infectious cause of death in the world.

A South African trial has found that a strategy allowing primary care nurses to quickly provide empirical tuberculosis (TB) treatment for newly diagnosed people with advanced HIV disease at very high risk of, but without confirmed, TB did not lead to a major reduction in mortality, even though it substantially increased the percentage of people starting TB treatment. Moreover, it may have delayed initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART) for some participants when compared to those in a standard of care control arm, researchers say.

People coinfected with HIV and tuberculosis (TB) who go onto develop immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) while on antiretroviral therapy (ART) have a pre-ART immunological profile that is easily distinguishable from those who are at risk of early mortality despite being treated for both HIV and TB, according to a presentation at the 54th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy this month in Washington, DC.

Two 4-month treatment regimens containing moxifloxacin are less effective than the standard 6-month regimen for drug-sensitive tuberculosis.

With increased TB activism and research into new treatments, preventive therapies, and diagnostics, the space devoted to TB at CROI has increased substantially.

The TB community - clearly driven by TB/HIV activism - is now calling for a global effort to eliminate TB: "We are demanding that you all in this room have vision, that you all in this room decide that we are not going to control TB, but we are going to eliminate TB." (Colleen Daniels, TAG)

Twelve months of isoniazid (INH) preventive therapy (IPT) significantly reduced the incidence of all TB diagnoses among HIV-positive people who were taking concurrent antiretroviral therapy (ART) according to results of a large randomised study presented as a late breaker study on Thursday evening at the Nineteenth International AIDS Conference in Washington DC.