Provider-initiated HIV testing and counseling of TB patients--Livingstone District, Zambia, September 2004-December 2006

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is the second most common cause of death from infectious disease in the world after human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS). Immunosuppressed HIV-infected persons are highly susceptible to TB disease, and countries in sub-Saharan Africa have the highest TB incidence rates, primarily because of the HIV epidemic. In Zambia, the TB rate increased during 1984-2005 from approximately 100 cases per 100,000 population to 580 cases per 100,000 population. Much of this increase has been attributed to the high rate of coinfection with HIV; currently, an estimated 50%-70% of TB patients are infected with HIV (N. Kapata, Ministry of Health, Zambia, personal communication, 2008). In 2007, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that countries with high coinfection rates develop TB/HIV collaborative activities, including routine provider-initiated HIV testing and counseling (PITC) of TB patients in TB clinical settings, using an "opt-out" approach. This report summarizes results from a PITC pilot study conducted by the Zambian Ministry of Health, with assistance from the CDC Global AIDS Program Zambia, during September 2004-December 2006 with TB patients at three clinics in the Livingstone District in the Southern Province of Zambia. The results indicated that, among 4,148 persons who had TB diagnosed, 2,072 (50%) were tested for HIV; of these, 1,497 (72%) tested positive. These findings demonstrate the practicality and acceptance of PITC and HIV rapid testing and support the need to expand this program to TB clinical settings in Zambia and other countries with high rates of TB and HIV.