Manaus expands the offer of rapid tuberculosis testing for people living with HIV/AIDS

Public health

The expansion of the service allows rapid testing to speed up the diagnosis of tuberculosis in people living with HIV

Manaus (AM) – The City of Manaus, through the Municipal Health Department (Semsa), carried out, on the morning of this Wednesday (20), at the West Health Complex, in the Paz neighborhood, training on the rapid LF-LAM test (test lateral flow method for detection of lipoarabinomannan in urine), used for the diagnosis of active tuberculosis in the population living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA).

The head of Semsa’s Tuberculosis Control Center, Alexandre Inomata, explains that the training was aimed at nurses and nursing technicians who work in Specialized Care Services (SAE) and Basic Health Units (UBSs) that provide care to people living with HIV/AIDS, with the aim of expanding the provision of rapid testing.

“Expanding the service is important, because rapid testing makes it possible to speed up the diagnosis of tuberculosis in people living with HIV, which optimizes treatment and reduces the risk of worsening the disease,”

reported.

The LF-LAM rapid test diagnosis is available in 25 minutes and, currently, the service is implemented in three health units in the City of Manaus, which also carry out the clinical management of people living with HIV/AIDS: UBS Ajuricaba, Dr polyclinic Antônio Comte Telles and family clinic Dr. Antonio Reis. With the training, starting next week, the test will begin to be offered at the Leonor Brilhante, José Antônio da Silva and Arthur Virgílio health units.

According to Alexandre, the LF-LAM rapid test is provided to the municipality by the Ministry of Health, which recommends that the test be aimed at patients with a low CD4 count, a test that identifies whether the patient has a severe deficiency in immunity, a situation in which people living with HIV are more prone to opportunistic infections, such as tuberculosis.

“When the CD4 test shows values ​​below 200 cells per millimeter, it is considered that the patient with HIV has a greater chance of developing AIDS. And tuberculosis is the opportunistic disease that most affects people living with HIV/AIDS, which can lead to death, as the patient’s immunity is compromised”,

explained Alexandre Inomata, remembering that Manaus recorded, this year, 306 cases of Tuberculosis/HIV co-infection.

Tuberculosis is an infectious and transmissible disease caused by bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis, known as Koch’s bacillus. The transmission of tuberculosis occurs when, when talking, sneezing and, especially, coughing, people with active tuberculosis, not yet treated, release particles into the air in the form of aerosols that contain bacilli, which can transmit the disease to other people.

In addition to immunological impairment, factors such as poverty, malnutrition, poor sanitary conditions and high population density also contribute to illness.

Treatment for active tuberculosis lasts at least six months and is available free of charge through the Unified Health System (SUS).

*With information from consultancy

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