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Study on the Prevalence of Tuberculosis in HIV Seropositive patients attending the ART Centre, KIMS, Hubli

Background: The incidence of Tuberculosis (TB) has seen a significant rise in association with HumanImmunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection worldwide, in the recent years. It is evident that immunosuppressiondue to the HIV infection has resulted in modification of the clinical presentation of TB, thereby presentingwith atypical signs and symptoms, and also sometimes affecting extra-pulmonary sites.Objectives: To determine the pattern of presentation and prevalence of TB in HIV Seropositive patients andto study various socio-demographic factors associated with the same seen in the patients attending the AntiRetroviral Therapy (ART) Centre, Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), Hubli.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 109 HIV Seropositive patients attending ARTCentre in KIMS, Hubli, for a period of 2 months. A pretested, semi-structured questionnaire was applied tocollect the data from the study participants after obtaining the verbal informed consent.Results: The prevalence of HIV-TB among the study participants was estimated to be around 34.9%.Although HIV infection was found to be more in females in the study, TB with HIV infection was seenmajorly in males. The commonly affected age group was 31-40 years, both in HIV infection alone and TBco-existing with HIV. Pulmonary TB was the commonest type of TB i.e., 92.1% among the HIV patients ofthe study. The prevalence of TB was found to be maximum in the cases with CD4 count of range less than250 cells/cu.mm.Conclusion: The prevalence of TB in HIV Seropositive patients was more than one third as per the studyand hence it is of utmost concern that HIV patients should be screened and treated for TB as early aspossible, and the prophylaxis of TB in HIV patients must be considered.