The Growing Burden of Tuberculosis

Abstract

HUMAN immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is a potent risk factor for tuberculosis (TB). Not only does HIV increase the risk of reactivating latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection,¹ it also increases the risk of rapid TB progression soon after infection or reinfection with MTB.^2,3 In persons infected with MTB only, the lifetime risk of developing TB ranges between 10% and 20%.^4,5 In persons coinfected with MTB and HIV, however, the annual risk can exceed 10%.^1,6,7 The TB burden in countries with a generalized HIV epidemic has therefore increased rapidly over the past decade, especially in the severely affected countries of eastern and southern Africa.^8-12 Tuberculosis is one of the most common causes of morbidity and the most common cause of death in HIV-positive adults living in less-developed countries,^13-26 yet it is a preventable and treatable disease.