ROLE OF ANTITUBERCULOSIS DRUGS IN COVID-19 INFECTION IN MOSUL CITY

Introduction: Coronavirus (COVID-19)-patients with another critical ailment, such as tuberculosis need more effective care and therapy. This study aims to investigate the role of COVID-19 on active tuberculosis patients who are receiving directly observed therapy (DOT) for tuberculosis in Mosul. Methods: In a seven-month prospective observational case-control unicenter-study at a chest and respiratory disease clinic and control and disease center in Mosul, we examined two groups of the population. (cases): considered 100 patients who attend the chest and respiratory diseases clinic with clinically, laboratory, radiology diagnosed active tuberculosis and receiving Directly Observed Therapy for tuberculosis. The control group includes one hundred individuals randomly selected from daily reported tuberculosis-free COVID-19 patients at the control and disease center. The two groups were compared for COVID-19 infection clinical investigations, radiology, and laboratory tests (polymerase chain reaction test) for the cases and control. The present study revealed that from a total of 100 active tuberculosis patients who received Directly Observed Therapy for tuberculosis only one got COVID-19 infection and 10 of 100 for the controls which are significantly 9.1 times at risk of COVID-19 infection than those with tuberculosis and on Directly Observed Therapy. Conclusion: Patients with active tuberculosis and enrolled on Directly Observed Therapy appear to be at lower risk for COVID-19 infection. © 2022, University of Defence, Faculty of Military Health Sciences. All rights reserved.