Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co-infection is a major challenge in tuberculosis prevention and control. The prevalence of HIV in tuberculosis patients aged between 10 and 59 years receiving medical care at General Hospital Onitsha, Nigeria was investigated. Seventy-five of the patients were males while eight-five were females. Their sputum and blood samples were screened for tuberculosis and HIV. The sputum samples were examined by microscopy and culture. Patients between 20 and 29 years of age had the highest number of tuberculosis cases (30.7%) while those aged between 50 and 59 years had the least number of cases (9.4%). Forty-five males (28.1%) and fifty females (31.2%) tested positive to HIV respectively. The prevalence of HIV among the tuberculosis patients was 59.3%. Twenty-eight patients (29.5%) composed of twelve males (12.6%) and sixteen females (16.9%) between 20 and 29 years had TB/HIV while eleven patients (11.6%) comprising six males (6.3%) and five females (5.3%) between 50 and 59 years were co-infected. Acid-fast bacilli were detected by culture in 92 (57.5%) of the tuberculosis patients while they were detected by microscopy in 68 (42.3%) of the patients indicating the higher sensitivity of culture for tuberculosis case detection.
Highlights
Tuberculosis has been reported as the most common respiratory disease that results from the inhalation of air droplets infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, with the highest prevalence of the disease in Sahara Africa and Asia [1]
Between 1998 and 1999, a 20% increase of tuberculosis case was reported in countries severely affected by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS in Africa [6]
The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of HIV in tuberculosis positive patients in General Hospital Onitsha, Nigeria
Summary
Tuberculosis has been reported as the most common respiratory disease that results from the inhalation of air droplets infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, with the highest prevalence of the disease in Sahara Africa and Asia [1]. More than half of these live in countries ravaged by HIV/AIDS [2]. It is the commonest opportunistic infection and the number one cause of death in HIV patients in developing countries and accounts for about 40% of all manifestations seen in HIV patients [3]. Autopsy studies have shown disseminated tuberculosis in 14% to 54% of HIV infected people in HIV prevalent countries, many of whom were undiagnosed prior to death [7]. Studies among HIV-positive persons attending voluntary counseling and testing and in home-based HIV/AIDS care patients have consistently reported high rates of undiagnosed prevalent tuberculosis [8,9]
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