The prevalence and drug sensitivity of tuberculosis among patients dying in hospital in South Africa
Press release from PLoS Medicine
22-Jun-2010 - A large, systematic postmortem study carried out in South Africa by Ted Cohen and colleagues has revealed
that 94% of deceased patients were HIV infected and 50% had culture-positive tuberculosis at the time of death. These data, which reveal that
the toll of tuberculosis in young people (age 20-45) in KwaZulu-Natal is higher than we previously thought, are published this week in
the open access medical journal PLoS Medicine.
Every year, nearly 10 million people develop tuberculosis-a contagious bacterial infection that affects the lungs and other
parts of the body-and nearly two million people die from the disease. Tuberculosis is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. People who are
infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, are particularly susceptible to tuberculosis because of their weakened immune system.
Postmortem studies which assess contributory causes of death in patients admitted to hospital in an area where mortality from
TB and TB/HIV is extremely high are infrequently done, but provide key data that can enable optimization of HIV and TB
treatment programs. The researchers determined the prevalence and drug sensitivity of tuberculosis among patients
dying in a public hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The authors found that the majority of the
deceased, who at the time of death were receiving tuberculosis treatment, were infected with
M. tuberculosis strains that were fully susceptible to antibiotics. This suggests that
the diagnosis of tuberculosis was made too late to alter the fatal course of the infection.
These findings suggest that improving the early diagnosis of tuberculosis, for example, routine screening for tuberculosis among
HIV-positive patients, and speedier initiation of treatment for both tuberculosis and HIV could reduce the global death toll from tuberculosis.
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Funding: This work was made possible through funding provided by Massachusetts General Hospital, BMS Secure the Future, and Edendale Hospital. The authors
also thank the Harvard University CFAR, the Ragon Institute, Gary and Lauren Cohen, the Mark and Lisa Schwartz Foundation, and the Witten Family Foundation
for additional support. T C received support through Award Number DP2OD006663 from the Office of the Director, US National Institutes Of Health .The content
is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Office of the Director of the US NIH, or the NIH.
The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing Interests: Megan Murray is on the Editorial Board of PLoS Medicine .
Citation: Citation: Cohen T, Murray M, Wallengren K, Alvarez GG, Samuel EY, et al. (2010) The Prevalence and Drug Sensitivity of Tuberculosis among Patients
Dying in Hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: A Postmortem Study. PLoS Med 7 (6): e1000296. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000296
IN YOUR COVERAGE PLEASE USE THIS URL TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO THE FREELY AVAILABLE PAPER:
http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000296
PRESS-ONLY PREVIEW OF THE ARTICLE: http://www.plos.org/press/plme-07-06-cohen.pdf
CONTACT:
Ted Cohen
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Division of Global Health Equity
Boston
United States of America
+1 617 432 6783
tcohen@hsph.harvard.edu
Contact:
Andrew Hyde
press@plos.org
44-122-346-3330
Public Library of Science
Source: EurekAlert!
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-06/plos-tpa061610.php
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