Abstract
This study is a direct hands-on epidemiological sampling of a hospital data of registered patients for tuberculosis (TB) in the Kasungu District Hospital of Malawi. The data for the year 2013 and 2014 were chosen as the latest but random sample to analyze whether the data fit in and follow the broad pattern of the country at the national level and also at the global level. The data represent convoluted results of genuine TB diagnosis and latency, but impacted by the socio-cultural mindset to obtaining health care in general. Incidences of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) run in close parallel to TB as the former precariously enhance the vulnerability from TB infection to the disease stage. Key words: Tuberculosis (TB), Malawi, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Highlights
Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused mainly by bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) in majority of cases followed by other similar microbes such as Mycobacterium bovis (Liu et al, 2015; Chatterjee and Pramanik, 2015; Wobudeya et al, 2015)
It is a common phenomenon to see co-affliction of TB and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) because the HIV positive status increases the vulnerability of a person to TB infection
There were 45 HIV positive vs. 56 HIV negative in males, while 21 and 50, respectively among females. These figures translate to 18.8% of the total male patients testing HIV positive vs. 23.4% male patients testing HIV negative in 2014 and 12.7% female patients testing HIV positive vs. 30.3% female patients testing HIV negative
Summary
Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused mainly by bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) in majority of cases followed by other similar microbes such as Mycobacterium bovis (Liu et al, 2015; Chatterjee and Pramanik, 2015; Wobudeya et al, 2015). The TB microbes infect many people before visible symptoms are discovered when the disease is fully evident. When a person develops active TB (disease), the symptoms (cough, fever, night sweats, etc.) are initially so mild that they procrastinate medical care and it results in transmission of the bacteria to others. A TB patient can infect up to 10 to 15 other people through close contact over the course of a year and is a ferociously contagious disease (Kehn-Hall et al, 2011).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
