TREATMENT OUTCOME OF TB/HIV POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SMEAR POSITIVE PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS PATIENTS TREATED USING DAILY SELF-ADMINISTERED THERAPY IN A CAMEROONIAN DISTRICT HOSPITAL

Abstract

Background: In our previous study we found that half of the patients treated at the NylonDistrict Hospital tuberculosis (TB) treatment centre were seropositive. HIV does notonly fuel the number of tuberculosis (TB) cases worldwide but it is also at least in part,responsible for the non-achievement of the 85% cure rate target.

Objective: To compare the TB treatment outcome of Smear Positive Pulmonary tuberculosis(SPPT) patients who did an HIV test and those who refused the test as well as compare thetreatment outcomes between the HIV positive and HIV negative SPPT patients from 2003to 2005, all of whom were treated as outpatients under routine programme conditions.

Design: A retrospective study.

Subjects: Four hundred and twenty patients were registered from 2003 to 2005 as havingSPPT.

Setting: The Nylon District Hospital, Cameroon.

Results: Thirty five point two per cent of the 386 SPPT patients also had HIV. The overallcure rate, default rate and death rate were 69%, 23.6% and 3.3% respectively. SPPT/HIVco-infected patients were significantly more likely to default from treatment (28.7%versus 16.8%, OR 1.943, 95%CI 1.150-3.285) to die in the course of treatment (7.4% versus0.4%, OR 23.714, 95%CI 2.894-194.330) or not to be cured (58.8% versus 78.8%, OR 0.404,95%CI 0.250-0.652) compared to SPPT/HIV negative patients. Likewise SPPT patientsnot tested for HIV were significantly less cured (38.2% versus 71.8%, OR 0.21, 95%CI0.099-0.445) and defaulted most (52.9% versus 21%, OR 4.773 95%CI 2.281-9.991) comparedto SPPT patients tested for HIV.

Conclusion: SPPT patients infected with HIV or not tested for HIV in the course of TBtreatment are likely to suffer from unfavorable treatment outcomes. Thus health personnelprescribing anti- TB drugs should be provided with the necessary expertise to diagnoseand manage HIV so that TB/HIV co-infected patients benefit from an integrated packageof care in and out of the hospital.