Reducing TB a matter of life and death
DURBAN: Several years ago, the World Health Organisation (WHO) identified the three most important ways of reducing the risk of tuberculosis (TB) in people living with HIV, who are highly susceptible to the airborne disease.
The strategy, called the “3 I's”, includes "Improving TB infection control", "Intensifying efforts to diagnose TB cases", and "Isoniazid for six months" - giving HIV-infected patients six months of Isoniazid, a first-line TB drug, as a preventive therapy.
The approach was widely recognised as effective and feasible, and incorporated into a number of national TB policies, yet TB - the most common and life-threatening opportunistic infection in people living with HIV - claimed the lives of an estimated 230,000 HIV-positive people in 2008, according to WHO.