Background-Tuberculosis is a common complication and leading cause of death in HIV infection. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) lowers the risk of tuberculosis, but may not be sufficient to control HIV-related tuberculosis. Isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) reduces tuberculosis incidence significantly, but is not widely used.

New scientific articles about tuberculosis (TB) are published daily worldwide. However, it is difficult for health care workers, overloaded with work, to stay abreast of the latest research findings and to discern which information can and should be used in their daily practice on assisting TB patients. The purpose of the III Brazilian Thoracic Association (BTA) Guidelines on TB is to critically review the most recent national and international scientific information on TB, presenting an updated text with the most current and useful tools against TB to health care workers in our country. The III BTA Guidelines on TB have been developed by the BTA Committee on TB and the TB Work Group, based on the text of the II BTA Guidelines on TB (2004). We reviewed the following databases: LILACS (SciELO) and PubMed (Medline). The level of evidence of the cited articles was determined, and 24 recommendations on TB have been evaluated, discussed by all of the members of the BTA Committee on TB and of the TB Work Group, and highlighted. The first version of the present Guidelines was posted on the BTA website and was available for public consultation for three weeks. Comments and critiques were evaluated. The level of scientific evidence of each reference was evaluated before its acceptance for use in the final text.Keywords: Tuberculosis; Mycobacterium infections; Diagnosis; Tuberculosis, multidrug-resistant. ResumoDiariamente novos artigos científicos sobre tuberculose (TB) são publicados em todo mundo. No entanto, é difícil para o profissional sobrecarregado na rotina de trabalho acompanhar a literatura e discernir o que pode e deve ser aplicado na prática diária juntos aos pacientes com TB. A proposta das "III Diretrizes para TB da Sociedade Brasileira de Pneumologia e Tisiologia (SBPT)" é revisar de forma crítica o que existe de mais recente na literatura científica nacional e internacional sobre TB e apresentar aos profissionais da área de saúde as ferramentas mais atuais e úteis para o enfrentamento da TB no nosso país. As atuais "III Diretrizes para TB da SBPT" foram desenvolvidas pela Comissão de TB da SBPT e pelo Grupo de Trabalho para TB a partir do texto das "II Diretrizes para TB da SBPT" (2004). As bases de dados consultadas foram LILACS (SciELO) e PubMed (Medline). Os artigos citados foram avaliados para determinação do nível de evidência científica, e 24 recomendações sobre TB foram avaliadas, discutidas por todo grupo e colocadas em destaque. A primeira versão das "III Diretrizes para TB da SBPT" foi colocada no website da SBPT para consulta pública durante três semanas, e as sugestões, críticas e o nível de evidência da referência científica que as embasavam foram avaliados e discutidos antes de serem incorporadas ou não ao texto final.Descritores: Tuberculose; Infecções por Mycobacterium; Diagnóstico; Tuberculose resistente a múltiplos medicamentos.

Betina Durovni and colleagues evaluated whether implementation of Xpert MTB/RIF increased the notification rate of laboratory-confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis and reduced the time to tuberculosis treatment initiation in 14 Brazilian primary care laboratories. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary

Women in the sexually active age group are far more likely to get Zika than men (+90% increase); sexual transmission is the most probable cause. Women in the 15-65 years age group are also 30% more likely to be reported with dengue than men, which is probably due to women being more careful with their health.

Summary Background Preventive therapy for tuberculosis among HIV-infected patients is effective but has not been widely implemented in moderate/high-burden settings. Objectives To determine the impact of widespread use of isoniazid preventive therapy on rates of tuberculosis and death in HIV-infected individuals in Brazil. Design Stepped wedge, cluster randomized trial Participants Patients actively enrolled in 29 HIV clinics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Control period Standard of care Intervention period Staff training in tuberculosis screening, performance of tuberculin skin tests and use of isoniazid preventive therapy. Randomization Clinics were randomly allocated a date to begin the intervention period with two clinics beginning the intervention every 2 months starting September 1 2005. Main outcome measures Tuberculosis incidence alone or combined with death in the control versus intervention periods through August 31 2009. Results Among 17,413 patients in the THRio cohort, 12,816 were eligible for the intervention. Overall, there were 475 tuberculosis cases and 838 deaths. The intervention increased the rate of patients receiving skin tests from 19/100 person-years to 59/100 person-years, and from 36/100 person-years to 144/100 person-years for those eligible for isoniazid preventive therapy. In the control period, 221 tuberculosis cases were diagnosed (1·31/100 person-years) compared to 254 (1·10/100 person-years) in the intervention (unadjusted hazard ratio (HR)=0·87;95%CI:0·69–1·10). Rates of tuberculosis incidence or death were 3·64 and 3·04/100 person-years, respectively (HR=0·76; 95%CI:0·66–0·87). When adjusted for age, sex, entry CD4 count and use of antiretroviral therapy, the HR for tuberculosis was 0·73 (95%CI:0·54–0·99) and for tuberculosis or death was 0·69 (95%CI:0·57–0·83). Among 12,196 patients remaining in care (secondary analyses, 399 tuberculosis cases and 656 deaths), the adjusted HR of tuberculosis alone and combined with death were 0·42 (95%CI:0·29–0·60) and 0·45 (95%CI:0·35–0·56), respectively, Conclusions Operational training aimed at increasing tuberculosis screening, provision of tuberculin skin tests and use of isoniazid preventive therapy in Brazilian HIV clinics significantly reduced incident tuberculosis and death. Thus, scale-up of preventive therapy for HIV-infected patients in moderate tuberculosis incident settings is achievable and should be strongly considered in Brazil and elsewhere. Trial registration This trial is registered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT00107887) Funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; National Institutes of Health