What particular difficulties does HIV/AIDS-tuberculosis co-infection cause?
Tuberculosis and AIDS form a lethal duo. A third of the 40 million people who are HIV positive—close to 12 million people—are co-infected with tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Tuberculosis is the first opportunistic infection that strikes people suffering from HIV/AIDS and is also the leading cause of death in HIV-positive patients in Africa. Left untreated, 90 percent of tuberculosis patients die within a few months of contracting the disease. Treating the two pathologies is a real challenge in terms of both diagnosis and treatment. It’s currently impossible to diagnose tuberculosis in the majority of HIV-positive patients with diagnosis methods available in the field (essentially microscopic examination). It’s vitally important that a new method of diagnosis be made available so that sufferers can begin treatment as soon as possible. In addition, information on the detection of AIDS in tuberculosis patients and tuberculosis in HIV-positive patients is also a priority. Finally, another area
