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Start HIV Drug Treatment Early in Patients With TB: Studies
Posted 19 Oct 2011 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 19 – Three new studies provide insight into the best time to begin AIDS drug treatments in HIV-positive patients who are also infected with tuberculosis, a double whammy common in Africa. Starting the drugs earlier, even by a few weeks, could make a big difference for patients who are very sick, the research suggests. The cost of earlier treatment isn't much higher, and the drugs pay big dividends, said Dr. Diane V. Havlir, lead author of one of the studies. Her study found that starting the drugs within two weeks of diagnosis rather than eight weeks reduced the death rate or progression to more severe HIV by almost 40 percent in the sickest patients. "This is fabulous news. It's amazing that starting it at two weeks versus eight weeks makes such a difference," said Havlir, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and head of the AIDS ... Read more
Related support groups: HIV Infection, Tuberculosis, Tuberculosis -- HIV Positive
In San Diego, Hispanics Now Dominate HIV/TB Cases
Posted 17 Feb 2010 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 17 – Hispanics account for 80 percent of the cases of tuberculosis/HIV co-infection in San Diego, which represents a significant change in the racial profile of the disease, a new study shows. "While the overall numbers are modest, our study shows that what used to be mostly a disease of white and black patients in San Diego is now largely a disease of Hispanics," Dr. Timothy Rodwell, an associated physician/fellow in the Division of Global Public Health at the University of California, San Diego, said in a university news release. This shift "indicates that the benefits of prevention and treatment of TB and HIV over the last decade have been uneven in the different ethnic/racial groups in this region," Rodwell added. He and his colleagues analyzed 5,172 TB cases recorded in San Diego County between 1993 and 2007 and found that 8.8 percent of those patients were also ... Read more
Related support groups: Tuberculosis -- HIV Positive