Prevalence of tuberculosis and associanted risk factors among the new HIV patients attending antiretroviral therapy at Komamboga Health Center III

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that most often affects the lungs and is caused by a type of bacteria “Mycobacterium Tuberculosis” MTB. Globally, about 2 million deaths due to tuberculosis occur annually throughout the world). According to World Health Organization (WHO), about 1/3 of the world population is infected by TB half of which are in sub – Sahara Africa. 5 -10% of these will show symptoms and they become sick or infectious at some point, more so if they are HIV positive. The report presents a cross sectional and descriptive study carried out to determine the prevalence of TB among the new HIV patients attending antiretroviral therapy at Komamboga HCIII between 1st December, 2024 and 29th March, 2025. A purposive sampling technique was employed on HIV positive patients. Sputum samples were collected from only HIV patients, processed and examined both microscopically and by Gene-Xpert technology to diagnose TB, and determine the prevalence of TB among the newly diagnosed HIV patients at the study area. Data on age, sex, and diagnostic results for TB among others were collected. The data collected (outcome of the study) was entered into a Microsoft office Excel program 2016 and later exported to SPSS version 20 and analyzed with help of a biostatistian. The analyzed data was presented in table forms, and pie-charts graphs. A total of 154 respondents all known HIV patients aged 10 years and above who visited the Hospital at the time of the study were included in the study. Findings revealed that out of 154 respondents, 17 patients were diagnosed with TB that is 11.0% and 89.0% were diagnosed with TB negative (n=137), the number of females in this cohort was relatively bigger (n=106) compared to the male counterparts (n=48) Therefore the research was aiming at determining the prevalence of TB among the new diagnosed HIV patients attending ART clinic at Komamboga Health Center that was found to be 11.0%. Further research of the same kind should be done to incorporate the persons below 10 years of age because this study was focused on those above that age. From the research, we recommend community awareness to increase knowledge on HIV and TB management. Patients diagnosed with TB should be given ant Mycobacterium drugs.