Changing Antiretroviral Eligibility Criteria: Impact on the Number and Proportion of Adults Requiring Treatment in Swaziland.

Objective: Early initiation of antiretroviral treatment (ART) at CD4 cell count ≥ 500 cells per microliter reduces morbidity and mortality in HIV-infected adults. We determined the proportion of HIV-infected people with high viral load (VL) for whom transmission prevention would be an additional benefit of early treatment.

Design: A randomly selected subset of a nationally representative sample of HIV-infected adults in Swaziland in 2012.

Provider-initiated HIV testing and counseling: increased uptake in two public community health centers in South Africa and implications for scale-up.

Background: International guidance recommends the scale up of routinely recommended, offered, and delivered health care provider-initiated HIV testing and counseling (PITC) to increase the proportion of persons who know their HIV status. We compared HIV test uptake under PITC to provider-referral to voluntary counseling and testing (VCT referral) in two primary health centers in South Africa.

Methods: Prior to introducing PITC, clinical providers were instructed to refer systematically selected study participants to VCT.

Tuberculosis infection control in resource-limited settings in the era of expanding HIV care and treatment.

The opportunities for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) care and treatment created by new treatment initiatives promoting universal access are also creating unprecedented opportunities for persons with HIV-associated immunosuppression to be exposed to patients with infectious tuberculosis (TB) within health care facilities, with the attendant risks of acquiring TB infection and developing TB disease. Infection control measures can reduce the risk of Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission even in settings with limited resources, on the basis of a 3-level hierarchy of controls, including administrative or work practice, environmental controls, and respiratory protection. Further research is needed to define the most efficient interventions.

Adverse events and treatment completion for latent tuberculosis in jail inmates and homeless persons.

Background: Recently, a short-course treatment using 60 daily doses of rifampin and pyrazinamide was recommended for latent tuberculosis (TB) infection (LTBI).

Study Objectives: To determine the acceptability, tolerability, and completion of treatment.

Design: Observational cohort study.

A prospective, randomized, double-blind study of the tolerability of rifapentine 600, 900, and 1,200 mg plus isoniazid in the continuation phase of tuberculosis treatment.

Once-weekly rifapentine 600 mg plus isoniazid (INH) during the continuation phase treatment of tuberculosis is associated with a relapse rate higher than that of twice-weekly rifampin plus INH. The safety and tolerability of higher rifapentine doses need to be determined. We conducted a prospective, randomized, double-blind trial of rifapentine at three doses (600, 900, and 1,200 mg) plus INH 15 mg/kg once weekly in the continuation phase treatment of culture-positive tuberculosis in 150 human immunodeficiency virus-seronegative adults.