Tigray Health Research Institute Research Articles

Time to Sputum Culture Conversion and Its Predictors Among Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis Patients in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia: Retrospective Cohort Study.

Sputum culture conversion status is a cardinal index of treatment response and patient outcome for MDR TB patients on longer anti-TB drugs. But, there is limited information on time to sputum culture conversion of MDR TB patients on a longer anti-TB treatment regimen. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate time to sputum culture conversion and its predictors among MDR TB patients in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. A retrospective cohort study was conducted from January 2017 through September 2020 among MDR TB patients in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. Demographic and clinical characteristics including bacteriological data were extracted from the TB registration book and electronic database in Tigray Health Research Institute. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 25. The time to initial sputum culture conversion was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Bivariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were used to identify predictors for culture conversions. P <0.05 was considered statistically significant. A total of 294 eligible study participants with a median age of 30 years (IQR: 22.75-40) were included. The participants were followed for a total of 1066.7 person months. Sputum culture conversion was achieved in 269 (91%) of the study participants. The median time of sputum culture conversion was 64 days (IQR: 49-86). In our multivariate model, HIV-positive (aHR=1.529, 95% CI: 1.096-2.132, P=0.012), patients new to anti-TB treatment (aHR=2.093, 95% CI: 1.100-3.982, P=0.024) and baseline AFB smear grading of +1 (aHR=1.982, 95% CI: 1.428-2.750, P=0.001) significantly affected time to initial sputum culture conversion. The median time of culture conversion was 64 days. Moreover, the majority of the study participants achieved culture conversion within the first six months of treatment commencement, which supports predefined standard treatment durations.

Frequency and patterns of first- and second-line drug resistance-conferring mutations in Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from pulmonary tuberculosis patients in a cross-sectional study in Tigray Region, Ethiopia

ObjectivesTuberculosis (TB) is a preventable and treatable infectious disease, but the continuing emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant TB is threatening global TB control efforts. This study aimed to describe the frequency and patterns of drug resistance-conferring mutations of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) isolates detected from pulmonary TB patients in Tigray Region, Ethiopia. MethodsA cross-sectional study design was employed to collect sputum samples from pulmonary TB patients between July 2018 to August 2019. Culture and identification tests were done at Tigray Health Research Institute (THRI). Mutations conferring rifampicin (RIF), isoniazid (INH) and fluoroquinolone (FQ) resistance were determined in 227 MTB isolates using GenoType MTBDRplus and GenoType MTBDRsl. ResultsMutations conferring resistance to RIF, INH and FQs were detected in 40/227 (17.6%), 41/227 (18.1%) and 2/38 (5.3%) MTB isolates, respectively. The majority of mutations for RIF, INH and FQs occurred at codons rpoB S531L (70%), katG S315T (78%) and gyrA D94Y/N (100%), respectively. This study revealed a significant number of unknown mutations in the rpoB, katG and inhA genes. ConclusionHigh rates of mutations conferring resistance to RIF, INH and FQs were observed in this study. A large number of isolates showed unknown mutations, which require further DNA sequencing analysis. Periodic drug resistance surveillance and scaling-up of drug resistance testing facilities are imperative to prevent the transmission of drug-resistant TB in the community.

Blinded rechecking of sputum smear microscopy performance in public health facilities in Tigray region, Northern Ethiopia: Retrospective cross sectional study.

IntroductionTuberculosis disease is the leading cause of death worldwide along with HIV/AIDS. Sputum smear microscopy plays an essential role for initial TB diagnosis and treatment follow up. But, misdiagnosis of sputum smear microscopy revealed a high economical crisis and missing of active TB cases. This study was aimed to determine blinded rechecking of sputum smear microscopy performance in public health facilities in Tigray region, Northern Ethiopia.Materials and methodsA cross sectional retrospective study was conducted from January, 2017 to December, 2018 year. Data was collected retrospectively using electronic and paper based in Tigray health research institute. The data was analyzed using the SPSS version 25 software. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the smear readings were calculated using 2X2 contingency table. The reading agreement between the microscopic center and reference center was determined using kappa statistics.ResultsA total of 23,456 blinded rechecked smear results were reviewed. In average, the performances of sputum smear quality were 61%, 68%, 64%, 66%, 62% and 75% for specimen quality, staining quality, smear size, smear thickness, smear evenness and smear cleanliness respectively. Of the total error (0.48%) reported, 0.25%, 0.19% and 0.085% were false positive, false negative and quantification errors respectively. The concordance rate of health facilities for smear reading was increased to 90% by the end of 2018. Overall, the sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of the smear readings were 95%, 99.7%, 93% and 99.8% respectively. Likewise, the smear reading agreement was also perfect with kappa value, 0.87.ConclusionThe overall performance of public health facilities for blinded rechecking of smear microscopy was satisfactory. But, the high false positive and false negative errors found calls for continuous evaluation and monitoring of the health facilities by reference center.

HIV virological non-suppression and factors associated with non-suppression among adolescents and adults on antiretroviral therapy in northern Ethiopia: a retrospective study

BackgroundDespite the benefits of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART), there is a growing concern of treatment failure. This study aimed to assess viral non suppression rate and factors associated with HIV viral non suppression among adolescents and adults on ART in Northern Ethiopia.MethodsA retrospective cross sectional study was done on 19,525 study subjects. All the data in the database of Tigray Health Research Institute was exported to Microsoft excel 2010 and then data verification and filtration were done before exporting to STATA 14.0 for analysis. Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) logistic regression was used for statistical modeling of viral non suppression.ResultsA total of 5153 (26.39%; 95%CI (25.77%, 27.02)) patients had no viral suppression despite being on ART. Being male (AOR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.18, 1.37), 15–19 years of age (AOR = 4.86, 95%CI: 3.86, 6.12), patients from primary hospital (AOR = 1.26, 95%CI: 1.05, 1.52), WHO staging II (AOR = 1.31, 95%CI: 1.10, 1.54), poor ART adherence level (AOR = 2.56, 95%CI: 1.97, 3.33), fair ART adherence level (AOR = 1.61, 95%CI: 1.36, 1.90), baseline CD-4 count of < 200 cells/micro liter (AOR = 1.33, 95%CI: 1.14, 1.54), recent CD-4 count of < 200 cells/micro liter (AOR = 3.78, 95%CI: 3.34, 4.27), regimen types: 1c (AZT-3TC-NVP) (AOR = 1.32, 95%CI: 1.22, 1.44), 2 h (TDF-3TC-ATV/R) (AOR = 1.79, 95%CI: 1.27, 2.52) and declined immunological responses after ART initiation (AOR = 1.45, 95%CI: 1.30, 1.61) were significantly associated with viral non-suppression.ConclusionsThe virological non suppression was high which makes it less likely to achieve the third 90 UNAIDS target. Being male, patients with WHO staging II and poor ART adherence level were significantly associated with viral non suppression. Therefore, intensive adherence support and counseling should be provided. It is also a high time to determine the antiretroviral drugs resistance pattern given the fact that a large number of patients had virological non suppression.

HIV prevalence and risk factors in infants born to HIV positive mothers, measured by dried blood spot real-time PCR assay in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia

BackgroundInfants infected during pregnancy or while breastfeeding requires early HIV diagnosis at 6 weeks after birth to identify HIV infection and timely treatment. The objective of this work was to determine the prevalence and associated risk factors of HIV among HIV exposed infants in the Tigray regional state, Northern Ethiopia.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted on 350 exposed infants born to HIV seropositive mothers from September 01 to December 30, 2016. Convenient consecutive sampling technique was employed to enroll HIV exposed infants from age 6 weeks to 18 months attending prevention of mother to child transmission (PMCT) clinic at Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) site facility in Tigray, Ethiopia. Sociodemographic data and associated risk factors were collected using a structured questionnaire. Dried Blood Spot (DBS) samples were collected from each infant and transported by post to Tigray Health Research Institute to detect HIV infection using real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Data were entered into EPI Info version 7, exported and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22. p-value less than 0.05 was deemed to be statistically significant by Fisher’s exact test.ResultsThree hundred forty infants (175 males, 165 females) met the criteria for selection during the completion of the study and the overall HIV prevalence was found to be 2.1% (n = 7). The majority of infants were from urban areas (n = 246, 72.4%). 45.5% (5/11, p = 0.001) infants were without ARV prophylaxis, 60% (3/5, p = 0.001) infants born to mothers who did not take maternal PMTCT intervention, 43% (3/7, p = 0.001) infants born to mothers who were not enrolled to ART care, and 6.1% (4/66, p = 0.029) infants of unmarried mothers showed statistically significant difference.ConclusionsThe overall prevalence of HIV among exposed infants was high but lower than the Millennium Development Goal targets. In order to eliminate the mother to child HIV transmission (MTCT) ARV prophylaxis in infants must be strengthened, and enrollment of HIV positive pregnant women to PMTCT and ART care and treatment is needed.