Active TB case finding and isoniazid (INH) preventive therapy (IPT) are feasible among pregnant women in maternal and child health clinics in Lesotho, a country with high HIV and TB prevalence, according to results of an 800-woman study.

Adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) approached 90% in a 104-person prospective study in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. Adherence to multiple medications for extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) was 20% lower.

Most immune-related cytokine levels before antiretroviral therapy (ART) began were higher in Botswana patients who died soon after starting ART than in people who did not die [1]. In contrast, pre-ART cytokine levels were lower in people with TB immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) after starting ART than in the control group of survivors without TB-IRIS.

Meta-analysis of 14 studies indicated that BCG vaccination protects against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in children under 16 years old, while a six-study analysis determined that the vaccine protects and against progression from infection to active disease.

Tuberculosis and other HIV diseases accounted for three quarters of the deaths in the first 26 weeks of the CAMELIA trial of early versus delayed antiretroviral therapy (ART) for people being treated for TB. An array of factors explained a higher risk of death.

Markers of CD4-cell activation became elevated in patients who had TB immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) after they began antiretroviral therapy (ART) for the first time. The ANRS 129 BKVIR team believes their findings “support a role for CD4+ T-cell activation prior to massive inflammation in the development of TB-IRIS.”

A symptom-based tuberculosis screening questionnaire recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for people with HIV performed poorly in detecting TB and excluding pulmonary TB in South Africans taking antiretroviral therapy (ART). The symptom screen performed adequately in HIV-positive people not taking antiretrovirals.

Intensified case finding proved successful in increasing the proportion of HIV-positive people screened for TB from 2006 to 2011 in Rwanda. Incidence of confirmed TB cases remained constant over that period at 2.2%.

Two rapid TB diagnostic tests had greater sensitivity in diagnosing tuberculosis in HIV-positive Ugandan, according to results of a 103-patient study. Sensitivity of the combined tests approached that of sputum liquid culture testing.

Among South Africans with HIV/TB coinfection, antiretroviral changes were rare during TB therapy when the initial regimen was efavirenz plus lamivudine and didanosine, according to analysis of 501 people in the SAPiT trial.