TB & HIV/AIDS is prevalent in Asian countries due to its high rate of TB infection and growing speed of HIV. It accounts for two-thirds of all new TB cases.
The main reason for this prevalence is the inadequate health programs and lack of drugs to combat the disease. Due to: the steep growth of new HIV cases in the region; the established related epidemics of injecting drug use, sexually
transmitted infections and tuberculosis; youth representing more than 40 percent of the total regional population; and the low levels of knowledge about the epidemics.
 

A few facts:

TB is the leading killer of people with AIDS.
TB is the first manifestation of AIDS in over 50 percent of cases in developing countries.
Patients with immune systems disabled by HIV/AIDS face a 30 times greater risk than others of contracting TB.
Escalating tuberculosis case rates over the past decade in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in parts of
Southeast Asia (places like northern Thailand) are largely attributable to the HIV epidemic. Since the mid-1980s, in many
African countries, including those with well-organized programs, annual rates of reported TB cases have risen 400 percent.
A total of 12 million people worldwide are co-infected with both TB and HIV, with the majority of them living in
Southern Africa.
Because of the increased spread of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa, the number of TB cases in that region will double to 4
million new cases per year shortly after 2005.
 

Because TB can spread through the air, the increase in active TB among people infected with both TB and HIV results in:

• more transmission of the TB bacteria

• more people with latent TB

• more TB disease in the whole population.

People with latent TB are increasingly becoming infected with HIV, and many more are developing active TB because HIV is weakening their immune system. People who are co-infected with both HIV and latent TB have an up to 800 times greater risk of developing active TB disease and becoming infectious compared to people not infected with HIV.

People with advanced HIV infection are vulnerable to a wide range of infections and malignancies that are called 'opportunistic infections' because they take advantage of the opportunity offered by a weakened immune system. TB is an HIV related opportunistic infection. A person that has both HIV and active TB has an AIDS-defining illness.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic is reviving an old problem in well resourced countries and greatly worsening an existing problem in resource poor countries. The are several important associations between epidemics of HIV and TB:

TB is harder to diagnose in HIV positive people

• TB progresses faster in HIV-infected people
• TB in HIV positive people is more likely to be fatal if undiagnosed or left untreated
• TB occurs earlier in the course of HIV infection than other opportunistic infections
• TB is the only major AIDS-related opportunistic infection that poses a risk

Some of the facts stated by WHO are given below:

AIDS: By the end of the decade, about one-third of all deaths among HIV-positive people will result from tuberculosis. HIV is spreading most rapidly in Asia, where tuberculosis infection is even more widespread than in Africa.

• TB is an opportunistic disease that preys on weakened immune systems; if not diagnosed early it can move very quickly in HIV-positive individuals.
• TB is the leading infectious killer of people living with HIV/AIDS.
• Up to 50% of people with HIV or AIDS develop TB.
• Worldwide, 14 million are co-infected with TB and HIV. In the SEA Region approximately three million are co-infected.
• TB causes at least 11% of AIDS deaths and possibly as many as 50%.
• The lifetime risk of developing TB in an HIV-positive individual is 50% as compared to the 5-10% risk of someone who is HIV-negative
• Most importantly, TB can successfully be treated even if someone is HIV-infected.
• Treatment of TB can prolong and improve the quality of life for HIV-positive people but cannot alone prevent people from dying of AIDS.
• In the South East Asia Region five of the 11 countries are high- or moderate-TB/HIV burden countries: India , Indonesia , Myanmar , Nepal and Thailand .