Prevalence of smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis among outpatients presenting with cough of any duration in Shashogo Woreda, Southern Ethiopia

Endale Eliso,Mulugeta Belay,Girmay Medhin

doi:10.1186/s12889-015-1411-4

Endale Eliso, Mulugeta Belay + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-1411-4

Copy DOI

Abstract

BackgroundExcluding patients with cough less than two weeks from screening for TB which is the current practice of TB control program in Ethiopia may result in delayed diagnosis thereby increasing transmission risk to others. The current study aimed to determine the prevalence of smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis among patients presenting with cough to four health centers in Shashogo woreda, Southern Ethiopia.MethodsA cross sectional study was conducted in four health centers in Shashogo Woreda, between November 2011 and March 2012. Four-hundred and sixty one patients aged five years and above attending the outpatient clinics and reporting cough of any duration were screened for pulmonary TB using smear microscopy. During data analysis, patients were classified by duration of cough with the cut-off of two weeks. Stata version 11 was used for data analysis.ResultsA total of 299 patients with cough of two or more weeks and 162 patients with cough less than 2 weeks were recruited. The overall prevalence of smear positive pulmonary TB was 4.6% (95% CI: 2.6% to 7.7%). The prevalence of smear positive pulmonary TB among patients with cough lasting two or more weeks was significantly higher compared to those patients with cough lasting less than two weeks (6.0% versus 1.9%; p = 0.04).ConclusionAlthough the prevalence of smear positive pulmonary TB among patients with cough less than 2 weeks was low, considering the contribution of delayed diagnosis for continued transmission of TB, screening patients with cough less than 2 weeks might be considered for TB control. A multi-site study with large sample size is needed to substantiate the current findings.

Highlights

Excluding patients with cough less than two weeks from screening for TB which is the current practice of TB control program in Ethiopia may result in delayed diagnosis thereby increasing transmission risk to others
Among patients who coughed for two weeks or more, 6.0% had smear positive pulmonary TB (PTB)
All smear positive PTB patients among those with cough of 2 weeks or more had more than 4 symptoms whereas only 1 of the 3 smear positive PTB patients among those with cough less than 2 weeks had more than 4 symptoms and the difference was statistically significant (p = 0.007) (Table 2)

Summary

Introduction

Excluding patients with cough less than two weeks from screening for TB which is the current practice of TB control program in Ethiopia may result in delayed diagnosis thereby increasing transmission risk to others. The current study aimed to determine the prevalence of smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis among patients presenting with cough to four health centers in Shashogo woreda, Southern Ethiopia. Twenty years have passed since World Health Organization (WHO) declared TB as a global public health emergency. To this end, significant progress has been made towards achieving the 2015 global targets within the framework of According to the WHO Global TB report, Ethiopia ranks seventh among the 22 TB high burden countries in the world and third in Africa behind Nigeria and South Africa [1]. A recent population-based prevalence survey in Ethiopia indicated a lower (108/ 100,000) prevalence of smear positive pulmonary TB (PTB) than previously estimated [4] probably indicating a good program performance. A large proportion of TB cases was among the young population suggesting that TB is circulating in the community

Methods

Results

Conclusion