Tuberculosis in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus 1. A retrospective multicentre study of 123 cases in France. The Groupe des Infectiologues du Sud de la France.

In order to study the epidemiological, clinical, and progressive characteristics of TB in HIV-infected individuals, a retrospective study was conducted in nine infectious disease centres of university hospitals located in the southern half of France. Among the 5730 HIV-seropositive in- and out-patients, 123 (2.1 per cent) had TB (121 infections caused by M. tuberculosis, 2 by M. bovis). Tuberculosis was pulmonary in 53 patients (43.1 per cent), extrapulmonary in 36 patients (29.3 per cent), and combined in 34 patients (27.6 per cent). There was no statistically significant difference among these three locations as to the mean CD4 count/mm3 (160 +/- 17), the type of antituberculosis therapy, the length of treatment (10.8 +/- 0.6 months) and the outcome. Fifty-two (45.2 per cent) patients received an initial antituberculosis therapeutic regimen of four drugs: isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol, pyrazinamide; 54 (46.9 per cent) were started on three drugs: isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol; and nine (7.8 per cent) received a two-drug combination: isoniazid, rifampicin. Fourteen of 75 patients subsequently received secondary preventive therapy. The mean follow-up time was 252 +/- 290 days. Clinical healing was obtained in 57.7 per cent of patients. Forty-six patients died, 33 during treatment: 23 from AIDS and eight from TB (in the first 3 weeks of treatment). Five patients suffered from relapses due to poor treatment compliance. Patients had a good prognosis if tuberculosis was diagnosed early.