THRio - TB/HIV no Rio
WATCH NOW THE THRIO STUDY DOCUMENTARY.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The THRio study, which stands for “TB/HIV no Rio”, is a phased implementation study of tuberculin skin testing and isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) in 29 HIV clinics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “Phased implementation” means that clinics receiving the IPT intervention will be compared to clinics that are not yet receiving it. At the end of the study all 29 clinics will have been phased into the intervention. The first objective is to compare incidence of active TB in those HIV clinics that have implemented the IPT policy to those that have not. The second objective is to assess the comparative impact of IPT and antiretroviral therapy (ARV) on TB incidence.
The primary activity of the intervention is the training and education of clinic personnel to implement Rio de Janeiro’s TB prevention guidelines. Every two months, over the course of 29 months, the HIV and TB staff at two of 29 clinics are trained, with separate sessions for clinicians, nurses, and support staff. After the completion of the formal training of the 29 units, periodic updates have been provided to educate health care workers and engage community leaders.
THRio has established close collaboration with the community through a community advisory board. Board members are trained in good clinical practice and TB/HIV, have educational materials and provide feedback regularly to the study team about the intervention process.
The intervention has been completed in all 29 clinics in Rio de Janeiro. Over 18,000 HIV infected clients have been included and over 1,300 patients have already been given IPT with a completion rate of 80%. Adverse events related to IPT have been rare (20 since the beginning of the study) and no IPT-related deaths have been reported.
Although final analysis will not be completed until 2011, the early success of the study prompted the federal government of Brazil to recommend IPT for all HIV positive persons in Brazil.
Below you can see abstracts and publicartions from the THRio Study.
