South Africa: Treating HIV and TB together halves deathrate - study

Taking antiretroviral drugs at the same time as TB treatment halved the death rate when compared with delaying HIV treatment until after TB treatment was completed, a major South African study has found. Trial investigators announced on September 17th that they have terminated an arm of the study in which patients waited until they had completed TB treatment before starting antiretroviral therapy, because patients in this arm had a significantly higher risk of death.