South Africa to test all HIV patients for TB

[October 13, 2010]  JOHANNESBURG (AP) -- Health officials in South Africa say they want to start screening all HIV patients for tuberculosis.

UNAIDS official Paul De Lay also says by 2015, TB patients will be automatically screened for HIV. South African officials said Wednesday they're working on three drug regimens to treat TB patients who have developed drug resistance, and are testing four vaccines, which they hope to release by 2015.

And a World Health Organization official says they're finalizing a test that diagnoses TB within hours, instead of months.

South Africa has one of the world's highest TB rates because of its AIDS epidemic. HIV patients are more likely to contract tuberculosis because of weakened immune systems.

The WHO reported last year that South Africa had nearly 460,000 new TB cases in 2007.

[Associated Press]

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