The impact of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 on infectiousness of tuberculosis: a meta-analysis

Clin Infect Dis. 2001 Dec 1;33(11):1922-30. doi: 10.1086/324352. Epub 2001 Oct 25.

Abstract

To assess if the relative infectiousness of patients with tuberculosis is enhanced by coinfection with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), data from 6 studies of 1240 health care workers who had contact with tuberculosis patients were analyzed. Overall rates of tuberculin skin test conversion were similar regardless of HIV-1 positivity of tuberculosis patients (odds ratio [OR], 1.04; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.23-1.84). However, when only 3 studies during nosocomial outbreaks of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis were analyzed, rates of skin test conversion were higher among contacts of HIV-1-positive index cases (OR, 2.85; 95% CI, 1.85-3.85; P=.0002). A second meta-analysis included data from 11 studies of 10,714 household contacts of tuberculosis patients. Prevalence of both skin test positivity (OR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.20-1.03) and active disease (OR, 1.17; 95% CI, 0.78-1.56) were similar regardless of HIV-1 positivity of index cases. These data suggest that tuberculosis patients with HIV-1 infection are not intrinsically more infectious to their contacts than are HIV-1-negative tuberculosis patients.

Publication types

  • Meta-Analysis

MeSH terms

  • AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / complications
  • AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / diagnosis
  • AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / transmission*
  • Community-Acquired Infections / diagnosis
  • Community-Acquired Infections / transmission
  • HIV Infections / complications*
  • HIV Infections / epidemiology
  • HIV-1*
  • Humans
  • Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional
  • Prevalence
  • Tuberculin Test
  • Tuberculosis / complications
  • Tuberculosis / diagnosis
  • Tuberculosis / transmission*