S.Africa alters AIDS plan after extreme TB threat

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa is overhauling its AIDS strategy in a bid to counter the rise of extreme drug resistant tuberculosis which is proving a serious threat to those suffering HIV/AIDS, a senior official said on Thursday.

Extreme drug resistant tuberculosis, or XDR-TB, has killed at least 183 people in South Africa since September. Most of the victims were already HIV-positive and their immune systems severely weakened by the AIDS virus.

"One of the areas that we are working on is strengthening specifically that aspect that deals with HIV/TB collaboration," said Nomonde Xundu, the health department's chief director for HIV and tuberculosis (TB).

South Africa is suffering one of the world's worst HIV/AIDS crises, with over 5 million of its 45 million population infected with the virus and up to 1,000 people dying of AIDS-related illnesses each day.

XDR-TB, which is easily spread in poor areas where people live in close quarters, threatens to compound the crisis as the new strain is immune to almost all drugs now used to treat TB.

Health planners were looking at ways to deal with co-infection of TB and HIV and improve TB screening ahead of the launch of a new AIDS strategy in March, said Xundu.

Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang told a news conference that drug-resistant mutations of the virus were emerging because TB patients were failing to complete the required course of drug treatment.

"Our biggest challenge will still remain the same: to ensure that patients complete the prolonged TB treatment," she said.

"Patients understand the need for hospitalization, fortunately for all of us, and none of the XDR patients have declined treatment after appropriate counseling."

The government did not think measures such as the forcible isolation of XDR-TB patients to prevent the spread of an outbreak was currently necessary, she added.