TB-HIV/AIDS co-infection, screening and management

Introduction: For more than 35 years, the world has been struggling with an AIDS epidemic that has claimed the lives of approximately 35.4 million people and an estimated 36.9 million PLWHA.In GUINEA, in 2016, Guinea recorded an average of 2,000 TB deaths among PLWHA. In 2017, out of 120,000 PLWHA, only 35% (42,000) were on ART. Method: This was a retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study. Results: Of the 1052 tuberculosis patients followed up who met the criteria, 267 had positive HIV serology, i.e. a co-infection frequency of 25%. Among the 267 co-infected patients, the average age was 34 years with extremes of 1 and 85 years. The vast majority of patients (221), i.e. 82.77%, were on ARV treatment with an average delay between the start of anti-tuberculosis treatment and the start of ARV treatment. Conclusion: TB/HIV co-infection affects more the young, active part of the population and women; this association has high mortality rates.