CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) — Researchers from the University of Virginia School of Medicine contributed to a major study that identified Tuberculosis (TB) as a major cause of sepsis in HIV patients in Africa.

Previously an unrecognized cause, researchers believe treating patients for TB immediately, even before sepsis patients are diagnosed with TB, could be life-saving

The results come from the ATLAS Study, which was conducted at hospitals in Tanzania and Uganda over the course of five years. The study found more than half of the over 400 patients evaluated in the randomized trial had TB, and immediate treatment of the disease increased their chance of survival significantly.

“In life-threatening sepsis in other parts of the world, a germ causing infection is either not found or is commonly caused by bacteria from urinary tract infections or pneumonia,” UVA Health researcher Dr. Scott Heysell, who co-led the study, said in the press release. “Instead, we found a treatable form of infection in the majority of people that could be targeted immediately when they presented to care.”

The study was conducted by researchers from UVA, as well as the Tulane School of Medicine, University of Minnesota and collaborators in Africa. These collaborators included leading HIV and tuberculosis physician-scientists, like Stellah Mpagama from Tanzania’s Kibong’oto Infectious Diseases Hospital and Conrad Muzoora from Uganda’s Mbarara University of Science and Technology.

Sepsis is a full-body inflammation that occurs due to a person’s immune response spiraling out of control in response to an infection, which can cause organ failure and death. It’s the leading cause of death worldwide, and those with HIV are particularly at risk.

The study concluded that the reason TB often goes unrecognized as a cause is due to difficulty of diagnosing the disease in East Africa. A diagnosis often requires sophisticated blood tests that are often unavailable or delayed in the region. Mpagama also noted in the release that many patients multiple infections at once, making treatment more difficult.

While current treatment guidelines call for TB treatment only after a diagnosis, researchers in the study believe starting treatment immediately could be life-saving.

“This study has the potential to provide a blueprint for evidence-based antimicrobial approach for sepsis therapy in TB-endemic areas,” Tulane researcher Dr. Eva Otoupalova wrote. “My hope is that this work will help lower the extremely high mortality of patients with TB-sepsis.”

The study has already been published in two open access scientific journals — Lancet Infectious Diseases and eClinicalMedicine.