Cotrimoxazole prophylaxis reduces mortality in human immunodeficiency virus-positive tuberculosis patients in Karonga District, Malawi.

Objective: To estimate the impact of cotrimoxazole prophylaxis on the survival of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive tuberculosis (TB) patients.

Methods: A cohort study with a historical comparison group was conducted. End-of-treatment outcomes and 18-month survival were compared between TB patients registered in 1999 and patients registered in 2000 in Karonga District, Malawi.

The long-term impact of HIV and orphanhood on the mortality and physical well-being of children in rural Malawi.

Objective: To assess the influence of maternal HIV status and orphanhood on child mortality and physical well-being.

Design: Retrospective cohort study with > 10 years of follow-up.

Methods: From population-based surveys in Karonga District, Malawi in the 1980s, 197 individuals were identified as HIV-positive.

Lymphatic filariasis in the Karonga district of northern Malawi: a prevalence survey.

In Malawi, two main foci of lymphatic filariasis (LF) are known to exist: one in the south, in the Shire valley, and the other in the north, along the Songwe River, on the border with Tanzania. There have been no formal surveys in the Songwe area since the 1960s but an opportunity arose in 2000-2001 to map LF in this area, in the context of a leprosy survey that formed part of the follow-up of a large leprosy and tuberculosis vaccine trial. Overall 687 immunochromatographic (ICT) tests were carried out.

Patterns and implications of naturally acquired immune responses to environmental and tuberculous mycobacterial antigens in northern Malawi.

Interferon (IFN)-gamma responsiveness to 12 purified protein derivative (PPD) and new tuberculin antigens from 9 species of mycobacteria was assessed, using a whole blood assay, in 616 young adults living in northern Malawi, where Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination provides no protection against pulmonary tuberculosis. The prevalence of IFN-gamma responsiveness was highest for PPDs of M. avium, M.