Prevalence of HIV Infection in Pulmonary Tuberculosis Suspects; Assessing the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, Nigeria

Abstract

After decades of decline, TB made a dramatic comeback, a situation largely fuelled by the emergence of the HIV pandemic, amongst other factors, including overcrowding, poverty and weak health care system. HIV/TB co-infection, presently poses serious public health challenges especially in the African region, including Nigeria. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of HIV amongst PTB suspects in Nnewi, Nigeria. A total of 1544 pulmonary TB suspects assessing the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital Nnewi who were screened for TB using  Ziehl Neelsen Sputum smear microscopy were also subjected to HIV counseling and testing (HCT). Of the 1544 PTB suspects 184 (11.9%) reacted to HIV antibodies with a higher frequency in the females (13.3%) than the males (10.4%). Total of 237 (15.4%) of the 1544 suspects had pulmonary TB infection with the prevalence being higher in the males (19.9%) than in the females (11.2%). A total of 22 (1.42%) were HIV/TB co-infected, with the males (1.6%) having a slightly higher frequency than the females (1.2%). The age distributions showed that the age groups of 31-40 and 41-50 years had the highest frequencies for HIV and TB infections in this study. The infection rate was lower among participants below 20 and above 60 years of age. More accurate method of detecting TB may be applied in future work to help understand the real burden of TB amongst HIV patients. Keywords: HIV and Pulmonary Tuberculosis