The Tuberculosis Bacterium and the HIV virus are not only concerns by themselves, but the two diseases are also acting together in a kind of deadly synergy that is propelling their spread even further. As stated earlier, roughly one-third of the world’s total population is believed to be infected with TB. However, the vast majority of those cases are in the latent form. Latent TB normally only becomes active when a person’s immune system is weakened, which can happen because of poor nutrition or other infections.

Because HIV is a disease that incapacitates a person’s immune system, people with latent TB are much likelier to develop active TB if they are also infected with HIV. A person infected with both diseases is in fact estimated to have a 100-times greater risk of developing active TB. When TB is active, it is also the most contagious.

Therefore, the CDC estimates that:

• Worldwide, one-third of the deaths of people with AIDS is directly due to TB.
• One-third of the new cases of TB over the past five years has been due to the HIV epidemic.

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