06/12/08

TANZANIA:  Vitamins Improve Tuberculosis Treatment

A new study led by Harvard School of Public Health's Dr. Eduardo Villamor found nutritional supplements improve the outcomes for patients treated for tuberculosis.

Villamor and colleagues hypothesized that nutritional supplements could help reduce the risk of disease complications and death in TB patients. The study included 887 TB patients in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Participants were given micronutrients including selenium and vitamins A, B complex, C and E.

The use of the nutrients was associated with a slight reduction in the risk of TB treatment failure and with a 45 percent reduction in the odds the infection would return after successful treatment. Among a subgroup of patients co-infected with HIV, this latter effect was particularly strong. Nutritional supplementation was also associated with a reduced risk of TB complications occurring outside of the lungs. Beneficial immune system effects were observed in HIV-negative patients, but not in those with HIV. Nutrient supplements had no effect on death rates or on progression of HIV.

"Results from a single study are usually not sufficient to provide general recommendations," Villamor cautioned. "However, this relatively inexpensive intervention does seem promising as a potential way to improve the outcome of patients receiving anti-tuberculosis treatment."

In a related editorial, Dr. Christine Stabell Benn of the Statens Sterum Institut, Copenhagen, and colleagues said, "We believe that the findings represent a true effect and that. nutritional supplementation could be an important [additional] therapy for patients with tuberculosis."

The study, "A Trial of the Effect of Micronutrient Supplementation on Treatment Outcome, T Cell Counts, Morbidity, and Mortality in Adults with Pulmonary Tuberculosis," and the editorial, "Should Micronutrient Supplementation Be Integrated into the Case Management of Tuberculosis?" were published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases (2008:197::1499-1505 and 1487-1489, respectively).

Source: Reuters:: Will Boggs, MD; Courtesy of the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention