High prevalence and poor treatment outcome of tuberculosis in North Gondar Zone Prison, Northwest Ethiopia

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the trend of tuberculosis (TB) prevalence and treatment outcome in a prison system of Northwest Ethiopia. Patients’ data on age, sex, TB type, treatment outcome and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status was collected from medical records of North Gondar Zone Prison TB Clinic for all patients with TB from 2002 to 2011. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16. The prevalence of all forms of TB during the ten years ranged from 579 to 2623 per 100,000 populations. The highest treatment success rate, 80% was observed in the year 2002, whereas the lowest treatment success rate, 42% was observed in the year 2004. A total of 114 TB patients were screened for HIV from 2009 to 2011, of which 14 (12.3%) were HIV positive. The prevalence of TB/HIV co-infection ranged from 163 per 100,000 populations in 2009 to 288 per 100,000 populations in 2010. There were high prevalence rates of TB and TB/HIV co-infection among the inmates of North Gondar Zone Prison with poor treatment success rates in comparison to the national figure and world health organization (WHO) target. Key words: Tuberculosis prevalence, treatment outcome, prison, tuberculosis/human immunodeficiency virus (TB/HIV) co-infection