Abstract
BackgroundUniversities tend to be highly congregate settings, both in the classroom and in residences, and thus provide special opportunities for large number of persons to be exposed to a person with tuberculosis (TB). Despite the high prevalence of TB in Ethiopia, the TB prevalence and the treatment outcome among students have never been studied. Therefore, this study was aimed at determining the prevalence and treatment outcome of TB among students at University of Gondar from January 2007 to December 2011.MethodsData on age, sex, TB type, category, and treatment outcome of students with TB was collected from medical records of University of Gondar Hospital, TB Directly Observed Treatment Short Course (DOTS) clinic. All TB cases diagnosed with smear, culture, and/or radiography were included in the study.ResultsDuring the five year study period in the university, there were an average of 36 students with TB per year out of a mean of 10,036 enrolled students. Smear positive pulmonary TB, smear negative pulmonary TB, and extra pulmonary TB, respectively, were observed in 46 (25.4%), 81 (44.8%) and 54 (29.8%) of the cases. The prevalence of all forms of TB per 100,000 populations in the University ranged from 297.6 in 2009 to 404 in 2011, respectively. The prevalence of TB in the Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty was higher than the one observed in the Medical College. The overall treatment outcome was classified as cured in 36 (19.9%), completed in 91 (50.3%), defaulted in 9 (5%), failed in 3 (1.7%), died in 1 (0.6%), and transferred out in 41 (22.7%) of the cases. Treatment success rate (TSR) among students in University was generally low ranging from 58.1% in 2009 to 82.9% in 2011 with a mean TSR of 70.2%.ConclusionThe prevalence of TB is higher in comparison to the national figure among students in University of Gondar. Active surveillance systems could be important to get a clear picture of the TB situation in such settings. Assessing the factors associated with the high prevalence to gear the TB control strategy could also be essential.
Highlights
Universities tend to be highly congregate settings, both in the classroom and in residences, and provide special opportunities for large number of persons to be exposed to a person with tuberculosis (TB)
This study found out that there was a relatively lower Treatment success rate (TSR) among students in the University of Gondar in comparison to the respective national figures [20,25,26,27,28] in all the years except 2008 and 2011 (Table 5)
Use of drugsusceptibility testing (DST) prior to initiation of retreatment regimen should be stressed for treatment failure, relapse and default cases especially in congregated settings as the risk of Multidrug resistant (MDR)-TB transmission could be enhanced
Summary
Universities tend to be highly congregate settings, both in the classroom and in residences, and provide special opportunities for large number of persons to be exposed to a person with tuberculosis (TB). This study was aimed at determining the prevalence and treatment outcome of TB among students at University of Gondar from January 2007 to December 2011. Boarding schools like colleges are one of the congregated settings that create favorable conditions for TB transmission [1,2]. The crowded situation both in classrooms and dormitories increases the risk of exposure to TB and other aerosol infections. This study was aimed at determining the prevalence and treatment outcome of TB among students at University of Gondar (UoG) in northwest Ethiopia, from January 2007 to December 2011
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