Incidence of sputum smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis at a tertiary care centre in north india

Introduction: Tuberculosis is an age old disease, considered to have its origin some 70,000 years ago in Africa, but still continues to haunt the society, being a very common cause of morbidity and mortality all over the world. Recent years have seen a rise of incidence of this disease predominantly due to the HIV epidemic. Epidemiological data on the disease is important for planning control strategies. Current diagnosis of the disease rests on sputum smear microscopy which is also convenient in a resource poor country like India.
Materials and Methods: The present study was done to estimate the incidence of pulmonary tuberculosis in a tertiary care centre in India. It is a cross sectional study conducted at ASCOMS & Hospital, Jammu which caters to the local population. All patients from Medicine OPD in the study period (January 2017 to December 2017) who had symptoms and other features suggestive of pulmonary tuberculosis were subjected to two sputum examination for AFB microscopy by Ziehl Neelsen staining method conducted in the DOTS center/DMC of the hospital. Demographic data of study subjects was recorded using pre-formed questionnaires and analyzed using appropriate tools.
Results: A total of 639 patients participated in the study. Total sputum samples collected were 1269 out of which 136 were positive giving slide positivity rate of 10.7%. Among all of the total positive slides, male female ratio was 1.85:1. Maximum number of slide positive cases was present in elderly age group in both male and female. 16.22% cases observed had one of the two sputum samples as positive.
Conclusion: The findings of this study reveal that elderly (>60 years) were most susceptible to tuberculosis and also percentage positivity of sputum among females was found almost similar to males in the reproductive age group (21-50 year). This study emphasizes the importance of at least two sputum samples for diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. Our study also highlighted the lower infectivity from HIV-infected group compared to general population.