Epidemiology of tuberculosis in the context of HIV and AIDS in Sinazongwe district of Zambia:

Abstract

TB cure and completion rates have remained poor for Sinazongwe district in the past five years. Mortality, treatment failure and defaulter rates among TB patients have also been increasing in the same period. The reasons for the observed poor treatment outcomes are not well understood but could be attributed to high HIV co-infection among TB patients in the district. This study was aimed at determining the prevalence of HIV/AIDS among TB patients and asses the association between the common TB treatment outcomes. A retrospective study of 484 TB patients’ clinical files drawn from a total of 2,137 files was conducted at Sinazongwe Zonal Health Centre. HIV was more prevalent among female TB patients at 61.5% compared to their male counterparts, 54%. TB/HIV co-infection were higher for patients with extra pulmonary TB compared to patients with pulmonary TB (p= 0.002).HIV prevalence among TB patients in Sinazongwe district was high and there was no evidence of declining trend observed across the reference period. HIV did not only fuel the number of new TB infections but was also, in part, responsible for reducing TB cure rate and increasing mortality rate among TB patients registered in the routine TB program.