TB patients to be screened for HIV/AIDS

MARGAO: As per the mandate of the nationwide programme on tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis and control, the TB control programme centre, Goa, has undertaken a drive to screen TB patients for HIV/AIDS and vice versa in a bid to compare the results of the common diagnostic methods.
Medical officer of state TB society A Sawant, told TOI that the programme of screening has been made mandatory in the state since the past six months.
"TB is an important public health problem in the state as over 2,000 patients are diagnosed with the pulmonary disease every year. The TB society has started to co-ordinate between TB and HIV/AIDS patients. With strict follow-ups every TB patient is now referred at the 12 integrated counseling and testing centres (ICTC) recently set up in the state. If found positive, the patient is further referred to the anti-retrieval (ART) centre at GMC," said Sawant.
As per a survey, TB patients with HIV/AIDS infection are between 1% and 13%, though the number is higher in HIV/AIDS prevalent areas," he added.
Sawant explained, "TB remains an important public health problem in the world that has been exacerbated by the HIV epidemic, resulting in increased morbidity and mortality worldwide. Both share modes of transmission and hence co-exist in the same host at significantly high rates. The prevalence of co-infection with HIV varies widely across different studies."