Pulmonary Tuberculosis: Case Finding and Treatment Outcome at Ekpene Obom (Etinan) Control Center, Nigeria

Abstract

Incidence of Tuberculosis (TB) and the outcome of treatment at the implementation of Directly Observed Treatment Short course (DOTS) among patients attending the TB clinic at Qua Iboe Church (QIC) Leprosy Hospital, Ekpene Obom, Etinan in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria were studied. Of the 883 patients aged between 12 and 68 years who attended the clinic from January 2001 to December 2003, 550 (62.3%) pulmonary cases were smear positive for Acid Fast Bacilli (AFB), 48 (5.4%) had extra-pulmonary tuberculosis and 285 (32.3%) were smear negative. Of the 598 patients who were on prescribed treatment according to the DOTS regimen, 450 (75.3%) were fully cured on completion of their treatment schedule, 14 (2.3%) had failed treatment and 111 (18.6%) defaulted. However, within the duration of the study, 21 (3.5%) patients died while 2 (0.3%) were referred. There were significant increases in cure rates from 63.0% in 2001 to 87.2% in 2003 leading to a corresponding decrease in treatment failure rate from 3.9% in 2001 to 0.0% in 2003. The findings obtained from this study are highly suggestive of the effectiveness of DOTS in the control of tuberculosis and therefore emphasize the need for more treatment supervision and intensification of efforts geared towards continuous provision of adequate drugs and other infrastructures to avert the emergence of drug resistant TB in the community.

Keywords: Pulmonary tuberculosis, DOTS, case finding

Journal of Medical Laboratory Sciences Vol. 14 (2) 2005: pp.40