Geneva, 2 March ( EFE).- The world Organization of the health ( who) warned today that the countries of Latin America “not have progressed too” in the detection and treatment of TB in people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus ( HIV).
Also reviews opposite, i.e. hourly tuberculosis patients to determine whether they are also HIV-positive are also widespread in this region.
During the presentation of the new policy on cooperation for the early detection of these two diseases, the director of the Department of struggle against Tuberculosis, Mario Raviglione, said that both in Asia and in Latin America tests medical people infected with one of these diseases to see if they are also carriers of the other “do not occur very often”.
Latin America and the Caribbean “there are very few countries that have improved”, while in the case of El Salvador more than 90% of those infected with HIV were subjected to the test of tuberculosis and treated Brazil 93% of tuberculosis patients antiretroviral.
The new who policy aims to promote greater collaboration between the medical treatment of patients of HIV and tuberculosis programs and update the guide of these actions already issued in 2004.
Human immunodeficiency virus weakens the immune system, which leads to people affected by this disease are much more prone to contracting tuberculosis, so it is also aware that infected persons by one of them they are on the other.
According to data provided by Raviglione, the collaboration between HIV and tuberculosis treatment services “saved on 910.000 lives” throughout the world, that he promoted an increased detection and diagnosis of diseases in patients co-infected with.
In 2005 only 200,000 people infected with HIV around the world were undergoing tests to determine whether they were also carriers of tuberculosis, while in 2010 the figure amounted to 2.3 billion.
In the case of those suffering from tuberculosis who received the test to see if they were also HIV-positive, these went from 470,000 in 2005 to 2.2 million in 2010.
Following the implementation of this Protocol, more than 100 countries are examining their tuberculosis patients to diagnose possible cases of HIV, a trend that increased dramatically in Africa, where over six years changed from 5 to 31 countries that practiced these tests.
Now 59% of the population of Africa infected with one of these diseases makes test to see if it is also carrier of the other, while 85% of those affected by one of the diseases is submitted to these tests in Western Europe.
The director of the Department of HIV / AIDS of Gottfried Hirnschall, who lamented that there is still “much to be done” in the fight against TB and HIV and felt needed more funding and better integration of services dealing with two diseases.
Finally, explained that the new who policy affect the need to undergo analysis of the two diseases to all patients with symptoms of HIV and tuberculosis, as well as provide antiretroviral therapy before two weeks after detection of co-infection. EFE
