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World AIDS Day 2007December 1 is a day when people around the world celebrate World AIDS day. This year, the focus is on "leadership", a theme set for the World AIDS Campaign under the five-year slogan "Stop AIDS, Keep the Promise". Although two distinct diseases, it is now a known reality that many people affected by HIV in developing countries develop tuberculosis (TB) as the first manifestation of AIDS. The two diseases represent a deadly combination, as they are more destructive together than either disease may be alone. Without proper treatment, approximately 90 percent of HIV-positive people die of TB within months of infection. As a matter of fact, TB is the leading infectious killer of people living with HIV/AIDS. A few important facts:One-third of the 33 million people worldwide who are living with HIV/AIDS are co-infected with TB.
TB in HIV-positive people is almost
certain to be fatal if undiagnosed or left untreated.
People who are infected with HIV are highly susceptible to TB
infection due to their immune system's inability to fight off disease.
In general, while approximately 10 percent of those who become
infected will develop active TB, HIV-positive people are 50 times more
likely than HIV-negative people of developing the active form of the
disease.
The sputum smear test is accurate only 40-70 percent of the time
under field conditions. Its sensitivity is diminished even further in
the presence of HIV co-infection.
The lack of accurate, robust, and rapid diagnostics impedes
tuberculosis patient management and disease control.
FIND, with its new tools partners, Aeras and the Global TB Alliance, are leading the development of new tools to fight TB with the creation in the past five years, of the largest pipeline of new TB diagnostics, drugs and vaccines in history. The foundation is working to develop better TB diagnostics that are rapid, accurate and accessible in resource-poor settings, which is critical to ensuring that people receive proper and timely treatment and thus save more lives. Related links:© Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics 2008. Click here to see the copyright notice |
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