Preliminary Study on the Epidemiology of Tuberculosis in Nekemte and Its Surroundings -Western Ethiopia

Abstract

Epidemiological study for Tuberculosis (TB) has been conducted in  developed and developing countries to accesses the burden of the disease in their countries. However, this study was lacking in Nekemte and its surroundings, western Ethiopia. Therefore, present study was designed for cross-sectional study to generate preliminary epidemiological information on TB in Nekemte and its surroundings, Western Ethiopia. Clinical  examination, chest X-ray, acid-fast staining, culture and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were used in the study. In addition, five years Nekemte Hospital and Nekemte Health center data were analyzed to assess the five
years situation of TB, TB and HIV co-infection, and treatment outcome. The results of the study reveals that out of 30,945 TB cases registered from 2003-2008, 19,494 (63%) had pulmonary TB (PTB) and 11,451 (37%) suffered from extra-pulmonary TB (EPTB) (÷2=81.936; p<0.001). From 19,494 registered PTB cases, smear positive PTB accounted for 2,462 (12.6%) of cases. The incidences of all forms of TB were gradually  declining in the last five years, while the trend of smear positive TB was
almost constant, according to retrospective analysis. The disease was also showed to be more prevalent in 15- 64 age groups (÷2 =288.035;  p<0.001). In addition, around 11.5% of HIV positive patients were positive for TB. During two months study period, 520 new TB cases were registered. Out of these, 68 (13.1%) were smearing positive. The extrapolated annual incidence of clinically diagnosed and smear positive TB in the study area were 124.8/100,000 and 6.32/100,000 population, respectively. Out of 25
isolate analyses by PCR, 15 were M. tuberculosis (Mtb), 4 were mixed with Mtb and M. bovis (Mb), 2 were unknown band and five were negative. The retrospective and present study showed that the significance of TB problem in the study area was not at the level to be undermined