English

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Tuberculosis is the most common HIV-related opportunistic infection in India, and caring for patients with both diseases is a major public health challenge, which places an immense burden on health care systems and poses particular diagnostic and therapeutic challenges, increasing the risk of treatment failure, relapse and death. Estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate that there are more than 9 million new active cases of TB and close to 2 million deaths per year. MATERIALS AND METHOD: The present retrospective study was conducted for a period of one year. HIV status was confirmed for patients attending voluntary counselling and testing centre (VCTC). HIV positive patients were referred to designated microscopic centre (DMC) for sputum examination for AFB and ART centre for estimation of CD4 count and necessary relevant investigations were carried out for extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB). RESULTS: Out of 682 HIV positive patients, 93(13.6%) cases were diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis. Extrapulmonary tuberculosis was detected in16 (2.3%) patients. The commonest form of EPTB was cervical adenitis detected in13 (1.9%) of cases and pleural effusion in 3 (0.4%) of cases respectively. The mean CD4 count was 208 cells/µl in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and 192cells /µl , 162 cells /µl in patients with cervical adenitis and pleural effusion. CONCLUSIONS: Further reduction of CD4 count occurs in dually infected patients. Early diagnosis and prompt institution of ART and ATT reduces mortality and morbidity significantly. INTRODUCTION: Tuberculosis (TB) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) constitute the main burden of infectious disease in resource-limited Countries 1 . Persons infected with HIV are particularly susceptible to tuberculosis, both from the reactivation of latent infection and from new infection with rapid progression to active disease 2 . An individual who is HIV-positive has 10 times increased risk of developing TB compared to an HIV-negative person the life time risk is 50% for an HIV-positive person and 5-10% for an HIV-negative person3. Estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate that there are more than 9 million new active cases of TB and close to 2 million deaths per year and that 2.6 million new cases of HIV infection and 1.8 million AIDS- related deaths occur per year 1 . In India alone about 2.5 million people are currently infected with