Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic disease caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis and transmitted from person to person, through inhalation of droplet nuclei aerosolized by coughing of an infected person. It reached epidemic proportions in Europe and North America during the 18th and 19th centuries. The incubation period is 2 - 6 weeks and the control has been complicated with emergence of HIV and drug-resistant TB. In 1993, World Health Organization (WHO) declared TB a global emergency. However, despite the concerted effort of National TB control programs, adoption and implementation of Stop TB strategy, TB has remained a major public health challenge with high mortality rate, especially in developing countries. Methodology: This is a descriptive study, evaluated using the positivist/quantitative approach. The study was conducted at FederalMedical Centre Umuahia, a tertiary specialist hospital with comprehensive TB/HIV treatment services. All the presumptive drug-resistant TB cases and symptomatic PLHIV were screened for HIV and their sputum specimens were tested for tuberculosis using the Gene xpert and the Ziehl- Neelsen technique for detecting Acid Fast bacilli. A pretested structured questionnaire was used tocollect the demographic data and other essential data from the presumptive TB and laboratory registers such as total number of TB presumptive cases registered HIV status, AFB status and rifampicin status within the study period. Result: A total of 493 presumptive TB cases were screened in the study, 49.9% were HIV positive while 50.05% were HIV negative. More so, 77.85% of thescreened cases were AFB negative and 22.15% were AFB positive. Moreover, 11% of the TB/HIV co-infected patients were rifampicin positive. Interestingly among the 493 cases screened with gene xpert machine, 3.6% were rifampicin positive. Furthermore, 3.6% of the HIV negative cases were rifampicin positive while 1.6% of the HIV positive cases were rifampicin positive. Discussion: The data depict lower rifampicin resistance among HIV positive cases than HIV negative cases. The implication for public health professionals is to intensify equitable and unbiased search for resistant TB cases among smear negative and positive cases.
Highlights
Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and transmitted from person to person, through inhalation of droplet nuclei aerosolized by coughing of an infected person
All the presumptive drug-resistant TB cases and symptomatic People Living with HIV (PLHIV) were screened for HIV and their sputum specimens tested for Tuberculosis using the Gene Xpert and the Ziehl-Neelsen technique for detecting Acid Fast bacilli
The results shows that 493 persons participated in the study, 287 (58.22%) were males while (206) 41.78% were females (Table 1)
Summary
Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis and transmitted from person to person, through inhalation of droplet nuclei aerosolized by coughing of an infected person. There are various method approved by WHO for the diagnosis of susceptible and drug-resistant Tuberculosis These include: sputum smear microscopy, sputum culture and gene xpert technology. With the introduction of gene Xpert in National TB programs, the diagnosis of HIV-associated TB and Rifampicin resistance had been made easy and accessible It is an automated molecular technology with 76% 93% sensitivity and specificity of 69% - 93% [10]. With the increasing incidence of MDR-TB among HIV patients and health care workers [11], coupled with poor infection control practices in hospital settings, it is imperative to determine the prevalence of MDR-TB among People Living with HIV (PLHIV) It is against this backdrop that the Abia State TB control program decided to ascertain the prevalence of MDR-TB among PLHIV screened with the gene Xpert machine. The HIV prevalence in the State is 3.9 (2014 sentinel survey)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
