Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) are pathogens responsible for millions of new
infections each year; together, they cause high morbidity and mortality worldwide. In addition, late-stage
HIV infection increases the risk of developing
tuberculosis (TB) by
a factor of 20 in latently infected people, and even patients with controlled
HIV infection on antiretroviral
therapy (ART) have a fourfold increased risk of developing TB. Conversely, Mtb
infection exacerbates HIV pathogenesis and increases the rate of
AIDS progression. In this review, we discuss this reciprocal amplification of HIV/Mtb
coinfection and how they influence each other's pathogenesis. Elucidating the infectious cofactors that impact on pathogenesis may open doors for the design of new potential therapeutic strategies to control
disease progression, especially in contexts where
vaccines or the sterile clearance of pathogens are not effectively available.