Prevalence of active pulmonary tuberculosis in human immunodeficiency virus seropositive adult patients in University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

Infection with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has reached a pandemic proportion. There is a resurgence of tuberculosis (TB) Worldwide, this return of an old enemy has been attributed to a number of factors among which HIV infection has emerged as the strongest known risk factor determining the outcome of infection with Mycobaterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis). Pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) accounts for more than 80% of TB cases and is the main problem on account of its frequency and infectivity. There have been studies determining prevalence of HIV in TB cases but that of prevalence of PTB in HIV infected patients have been limited. This study was undertaken to establish the prevalence of active PTB in HIV seropositive adult patients in University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan. Fifty-eight confirmed HIV-seropositive adults patients were studied. All subjects were interviewed and examined. Subjects with positive respiratory symptoms and signs had their sputum examined and cultured for M. tuberculosis and had chest radiograph done. In this study, the prevalence of active PTB in HIV-seropositive subjects was 32.8% The TB prevalence shows a bimodal distribution at the extremes of age, while the age group 30-39 years had the lowest prevalence of 23.3%.