THE government of Zimbabwe is introducing this month a new drug for HIV and AIDS patients which will help them reduce tuberculosis contraction.
The drug, isoniazid, is an antibiotic used to kill the bacteria that causes tuberculosis (normally associated with HIV/AIDS).
There are two stages in the treatment of tuberculosis. In the first two months after infection (the initial phase), treatment is aimed at killing as many bacteria as possible. Therefore several anti-TB drugs with different mechanisms of action are used in combination. After this time some of the medications are stopped and the others are continued for a further four months (continuation phase) to kill any remaining bacteria.
Isoniazid is used in both stages of treatment.
Health and Child Welfare Minister David Parirenyatwa said last week that isoniazide was recommended by the World Health Organization and was already being used in other countries.
"We are very worried about co-infection, a situation where HIV and AIDS patients are infected with other diseases and tuberculosis in particular, given its devastating effects on them. The drug is meant to prevent those patients from catching TB in addition to HIV and AIDS," Parirenyatwa said.
A high percentage of people with TB in Zimbabwe are thought to be living with HIV/AIDS.
Zimbabwe is said to have been putting a lot of emphasis on HIV and AIDS and overlooking other killer diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria.
This new move should help to reduce TB infection.
A World Health Organization and Unicef study consluded that giving Africa's HIV-positive children a cheap antibiotic could nearly halve the death rate.
Other HIV/AIDS antibiotics like co-trimoxazole have been used effectively in the Southern African region to reduce deaths from HIV/AIDS-related diseases and other opportunistic diseases.
A standards practice in the developed world is to treat all HIV/AIDS sufferers with antibiotics before HIV/AIDS anti-retroviral treatment is started.
Every day as many as 1,300 children die from HIV and Aids-related illnesses across the world.
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