For Immediate Release
Callback:
Chris Shepherd
American Thoracic Society
212 315-6440
NEW TB STUDY SHOWS STABILIZATION OF AIDS CASES AFTER DECADE LONG INCREASES
AIDS-related TB cases appear to have stabilized at 18 percent of all tuberculosis cases after a decade of steady increases, acccording to a recent survey.
The survey was the sixth in a series to determine tuberculosis practices and policies in 25 major U.S. metropolitan health departments. Also reported in the survey was the fact that health departments have been better funded for TB treatment and control as compared with previous survey findings, conducted four years earlier. Reporting on the survey results, Dr . Alan Leff of the University of Chicago's Department of Medicine and Donna Leff of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, noted that real growth in dollars increased approximately 85 percent and was directed largely at supervised treatment programs which reduced the duration of treatment and cut the need for routine-post treatment followup of non high-risk patients. Investigators said that supervised intermittent therapy, along with aggressive screening programs, have likely led to a decreased incidence of TB since the last survey.
The survey also assessed changing trends in the drug treatment of tuberculosis, such as the widely used rifampin as an alternative therapy. Isoniazid, however, was still reported as the overwhelming choice of health departments for prophylactic treatment of TB infections. Drug toxicity was found not to be uniformly monitored. The investigators said that "many health departments do not follow guidelines previously suggested for routine laboratory monitoring but rather follow clinical parameters and obtain biochemical testing only in symtomatic patients.," They also reported that substantial changes have occurred since the last survey in treatment programs directed at allocating multi-drug regimens for patients, as well as in utilizing shorter-course therapies of 6 to 9 months duration. The shorter time frame for medication is routinely employed except in cases of poor compliance or initial drug resistance.
The report on the surveys was carried in the most recent issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The journal is published by the American Thoracic Society (ATS) which is a scientific and medical professional society comprised of pulmonary and critical care physicians. The ATS also serves as the Medical Section of the American Lung Association.
Investigator contact:
Dr. Alan Leff
Tel: 312 702-9181
For the complete text of the journal article, call Chris Shepherd, ATS, at
212 315-6440 or fax your request to her at 212 315-6455.
###
RSS