Obioma Azuonwu, Ramesh Putheti, Faith Amadi, Omokaro Obire

Abstract

The prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected persons visiting an infectious disease hospital in Port Harcourt, Nigeria was investigated. A total of 500 patients between the ages of 1 to 50 years and above were screened. Determine and Stat-PakTM test kits were used to determine the presence of HIV antibodies in serum samples (Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay - ELISA). While the Ziehl Neelson’s staining technique was used to determine the presence of acid fast bacilli (bacteriologically confirmed cases of sputum smear-positive tuberculosis). The results showed that 45.53% of the males and 53.96% of the females were HIV seropositive. At the end of the screening 16.8% of all the cases were found to be bacteriologically confirmed cases of sputum smear-positive tuberculosis. The prevalence rate of tuberculosis among the males was 17.9% while its rate among the females was 15.9%. The HIV/TB co-infection rate in males and females was 19.6% and 18.2% respectively. While in all the cases, the HIV/TB co-infection rate was 18.8%. Of the HIV sero-positive subjects, the highest rate (27.3%) was recorded in persons of 50 years and above. These findings are attributed to the poor quality of life, illiteracy, social habits and lack of adequate sanitary condition and health care. Since low standard of living is a risk factor for TB and as a result of the HIV pandemic. It is necessary for all new TB patients to be screened for HIV infection and vice versa.