Clinical management of tuberculosis in the context of HIV infection

Globally, the HIV and tuberculosis epidemics are stoking each other, creating a public health crisis of enormous proportions. At the level of individuals, contemporaneous infection with M. tuberculosis and HIV poses great challenges to clinical management. This chapter provides an overview of active and latent tuberculosis treatment in HIV-infected and -uninfected individuals. The discussion focuses on medication issues, including interactions between antitubercular drugs, antiretroviral drugs, and medicines used for opportunistic infections and treatment in the face of comorbidities. Clinical questions specific to coinfection are discussed, including duration and timing initiation of therapy and immune reconstitution. Most of the data presented were generated in industrialized settings and are presented to assist patient management in such settings. However, given the disproportionate amount of TB/HIV in less-developed nations and the increasing availability of antiretroviral therapy in resource-limited settings, the issues presented will become increasingly relevant globally.