HIV-infected patients have a 30-fold increased risk of developing tuberculosis.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — HIV/AIDS patients have a 30-fold increased risk of developing tuberculosis (TB). Internal medicine specialist Dr. Herikurniawan, Sp.PD, KP.
“When you talk about AIDS, you won’t be happy if you don’t talk about tuberculosis. We need it aware with tuberculosis because HIV-infected patients have a 30 times higher risk of contracting tuberculosis,” said the doctor who graduated from the University of Indonesia School of Medicine in a speech to the media in Jakarta last week .
The total incidence of TB disease in 2021 in Indonesia is 354/100,000 population or 969,000 cases. Meanwhile, the 2021 TB-HIV incidence is 8.1/100,000 population or 22,000 cases.
Non-HIV TB deaths in 2021 will reach 52/100,000 population or 144,000 cases. While TB-HIV deaths amounted to 2.4/100,000 population or 6,500 cases.
Herikurniawan said tuberculosis was caused by bacteria mycobacterium tuberculosis. If it infects the lungs it causes pulmonary tuberculosis. However, this germ is also capable of infecting other organs of the body such as the liver, brain, eyes and bones.
This germ can survive down to temperatures as low as -70 degrees. However, germs die within minutes when exposed to sunlight or temperatures of 30-37 degrees.
Non-HIV and HIV-infected TB have the same symptoms of cough for more than two weeks, prolonged fever, weight loss, excessive night sweats, decreased appetite, weakness, and fatigue. He said HIV patients’ complaints of cough, regardless of duration, should still be investigated.
“All patients diagnosed as HIV positive must be tested for tuberculosis, we will check their sputum,” said Dr. Herikurniawan.
Herikurniawan said that the treatment of tuberculosis in HIV-infected patients should be prioritized by administering OAT drugs for 6 months every day. In HIV patients, liver infections are also often found, so it is easy to experience drug side effects in the form of liver disorders in some OAT drugs.
In addition, all HIV-positive TB patients will be given preventive antibiotics to prevent other opportunistic infections. “If you’ve just been diagnosed with HIV, you need to get TB checked immediately. If you don’t have TB, you still need to do prevention,” said Dr. Herikurniawan.
source: between
