Abstract

Objective: To determine the occurrence of tuberculosis (TB) among HIV infected patients and their CD4+ cell count profile. Methods: A total of 263 HIV-seropositive patients either hospitalized or reporting to the antiretroviral therapy centre for follow up were included in the study. HIV-seropositive patients were then investigated clinically, radiologically and microbiologically for diagnosis of pulmonary TB as per the revised guidelines issued by WHO. Two early morning sputum samples were collected from patients, and isolation and identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was done as per standard protocol. Results: Out of them 41 (15.6%) were TB positive and 222 (84.4%) were TB negative. Among TB positive patients, smear positive and culture positive patients were 19 (7.2%), while smear negative and culture positive were 9 (3.4%). Mean CD4+ T cell counts for HIV-seropositive and HIV-related TB patients were 156.14 cells/µL and 197.24 cells/µL respectively. Conclusions: The clinical manifestations in HIV-related TB patients are quite variable and lead to difficulties in diagnosis. Thus radiological evaluation along with proper laboratory investigation in all clinically suspected cases of tuberculosis is the key for prompt diagnosis and treatment.

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