“It's time for TB patients to push for action on the research side. We need to say, 'Look, we are here, and we need new drugs and treatment.'"
- Winstone Zulu, TB/HIV Patient Advocate
As the world marks World AIDS Day, we also note the close interconnection between tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS. Over the last decade, TB and HIV have merged into a twin epidemic. TB’s dramatic comeback over the last decade is associated with its deadly symbiosis with HIV/AIDS. TB is one of the leading opportunistic infections and killers of HIV-positive individuals. Someone is up to 50 times more likely to develop the active, contagious form of TB.
This year’s UNAIDS report stresses the impact of HIV/AIDS on women in particular, who now make up nearly half of the 37.2 million HIV-positive adults across the world. This also reflects the interlinkages between both diseases. TB is the number one killer of women of child-bearing age. With women’s role in caregiving, their susceptibility to TB and HIV carries many ripple-effects into their own families and communities.
While the world awaits a full cure for HIV/AIDS, TB can be treated and often cured. However, only one-third of those with TB have access to the best treatment. Drugs used to treat TB are not compatible with ARVs since they were developed more than 30 years ago, before the AIDS epidemic.
At the International AIDS Conference in July 2004, former South African President, Nelson Mandela, noted that many people are still not being diagnosed and treated: "We can't fight AIDS unless we do much more to fight TB as well," said Mr. Mandela.
The TB Alliance accelerates the discovery and development of faster-acting and affordable TB drugs. In four short years, the TB Alliance has developed the first, most comprehensive drug pipeline since the 1960s. Several promising drug candidates are in, or are approaching, clinical development. PA-824, a nitroimidazole on schedule to enter clinical development in the first half of 2005, is particularly promising and does not have drug-drug interactions with anti-retroviral drugs. The prospects of transforming TB treatment and facilitating better TB-HIV treatment are in sight.
As the world resolves to strengthen the fight against AIDS on December 1, we also reaffirm our search for new, better and faster drugs for TB. Together, we can extend the lives of HIV-positive patients and ultimately overcome this deadly twin epidemic.