Posted on August 26, 2013
Source: The New York Times
An inexpensive daily pill can often fend off a lethal bout of tuberculosis in people with H.I.V., according to a large new study.
The drug is isoniazid, a generic antibiotic, and the World Health Organization has recommended a daily dose since 1998 for H.I.V. patients who harbor germs for tuberculosis but have no symptoms; full-blown TB is a leading killer of AIDS victims. But public health doctors in poor countries rarely bother.
“It’s a combination of ignorance, fear of creating antibiotic resistance and a belief among many TB doctors that it won’t work,” said Dr. Richard E. Chaisson, a tuberculosis specialist at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who led the research.
The study, published last week by Lancet Infectious Disease, found that a daily isoniazid pill reduced deaths and active TB cases by 31 percent among 12,816 patients at 29 Brazilian clinics. In patients whose urine samples proved that they actually took their pills regularly, Dr. Chaisson added, the effect was far greater — a reduction of about 80 percent.
