Full Length Research Paper

Prevalence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections in Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria

Ejikeme Nwachukwu* and Godwin Aguziendu Peter

Department of Microbiology, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike,

P. M. B. 7267, Umuahia, Nigeria.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: drejik@yahoo.com.

Accepted 10 June, 2010

Abstract

The prevalence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections was investigated among individuals from age 16 years and above attending out patient clinic in federal medical centre (FMC) and other hospitals in Umuahia. A total of two hundred and fifty individuals were examined. The examinations of the samples from the patients were done according to bacteriological and hematological standards. The overall prevalence of M. tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections was 21.6 and 14.0% respectively. The prevalence of patients with TB/HIV co-infections was 6.4%. Males have a higher TB/HIV prevalent rate (3.6%) than females (2.8%). There was no significant difference (P = 0.01) in prevalence of M. tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus infections among the sex group. There was also no significant difference between age groups for M. tuberculosis infections but there was a significant association between age and human immunodeficiency virus infections. M. tuberculosis and HIV infections were significantly high among the individuals with anemia (P = 0.01). All the individuals infected with M. tuberculosis and HIV had significantly elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR > 51 mm/hr) (P = 0.01). None of the individuals with M. tuberculosis and HIV infections had normal erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR 3 - 8 mm/h). The highest rate of infection for both M. tuberculosis and HIV was among the age group 26 - 35 years. M. tuberculosis significantly caused more anemia (PCV, 20 - 25%) compared to HIV infection. HIV and M. tuberculosis infections are of public health importance and need effective control especially among the young age group.

Key words: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, human immunodeficiency virus.