South African AIDS Pandemic Leads to Rise in Tuberculosis

On Friday, South African Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said the AIDS pandemic is one of the main factors behind the "significant increase in the number of [TB] cases reported over the past eight years." "We recorded about 300,000 new cases of TB last year, and most of the affected are people in the productive age groups," she said at meeting with business representatives. "A TB patient can lose an average of three to four months of work time, which translates to between 20 and 30 percent of the patient's annual income lost due to lost earnings. And about 15 years of income is lost due to premature death," Tshabalala-Msimang said. In a statement, the South African Business Coalition on HIV and AIDS stressed the "close link" between TB and HIV, saying it would be "logical" for the government to address TB as a part of its strategy in fighting the pandemic.

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